Despite festival clean-ups being notoriously tough, for the last two years members of Chelmsford and Stafford based Rotary Clubs have got their hands dirty in an attempt to salvage what they can for charity from V Festival.
Teams of around 100 Rotarians led by Mike Hampson at Weston Park and Terry Dean at Hylands Park spent the Monday and Tuesday after the festival collecting abandoned camping gear, and between them, their haul included 1000 tents, 300 folding chairs and 200 sleeping bags. Last year the charity International Aid arranged for the equipment to be sent straight to those left homeless by the earthquake in Pakistan; this year it is hoped the tents can again provide temporary shelter, while all other equipment will be sold for charity.
In recent years the promoters of V Festival had found more and more customers leaving their camping equipment behind. Agreeing that the gear could go to a good cause, they enlisted the help of local Rotary Clubs. ‘We made a simple appeal to customers – if you’re going to leave your equipment behind, leave it in good condition or even pack it away for us. We’ve been pleasantly surprised at just how many people co-operated, so we’d like to extend our thanks to all of them. Now, with the help of the Rotarians in conjunction with International Aid, we know the equipment will be put to good use.”
Some 1600 staff are already employed to restore the festival sites to their ‘rest-of-year’ glory. Mark Tyler, head of Nu-Kleen, estimates that 280 tonnes of rubbish were collected this year in Chelmsford alone. In the five days following V Festival, the Chelmsford site alone fills 47 ‘40 yarder’ skips, 12 ‘20 yarder’ skips and in excess of 600 wheelie bins. And to pick up all 420 tonnes of rubbish in Stafford, 3000 pairs of gloves were used!
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