Bestival goers donate thousands of items to refugees in Calais

Bestival 2016

Thursday 8th to Sunday 11th September 2016
Robin Hill Country Park, Nr Arreton, Downend, Isle of Wight, PO30 2NU, England MAP
£190 adult weekend (+booking fee)

Daily capacity: 79,999

Last updated: Mon 5th Sep 2016

Those attending Bestival's Summer of Love at Robin Hill Country Park on the Isle of Wight were asked to donate unwanted tents, sleeping bags, roll mats in good working order, at designated drop off points so they can be sent to Calais to provide shelter for the people camped there.

Festival goers delivered with more than 1,500 tents going to shelter thousands of refugees as part of a shipment of emergency gear received by aid workers to help alleviate those in the humanitarian crisis living in appalling conditions in a makeshift camp in Calais, known as 'the Jungle'.

Overall more than 1,500 tents, 500 sleeping bags, hundreds of wellies, air beds and mattresses and an array of clothing, jackets and toiletries were collected from the drop off points and the wider site.

A festival tent salvage team of 70 worked through bad weather to collect them after the festival ended. Most have been sent to the Calais camp while some will also be sent to settlement on islands in Greece where migrants are stranded.

Charity Challenge and Adventure also collected 2,120 chairs which will be cleaned and returned next year for the festival's Rent-a-Chair stall which this year generated £3,675 to be distributed among island charities.

Gary Meek from Challenge and Adventure who coordinates the Salvagers said the extreme weather hampered collections with some of the tents in too poor a state to donate.

He explained, "It could have been so much more given the uplift in salvage volunteers but the weather and conditions were unfortunately against us. We live and learn, and we'll be back next time as keen as ever to make the most of the opportunity available to local, national and international charity efforts."

In addition 100 pairs of wellies collected by teams will be sold in Bestival's charity shop in Newport, Isle of Wight, and proceeds also distributed to local charities.

Bestival, which will be held at Robin Hill Country Park on the Isle of Wight, returns next year from Thursday 8th until Sunday 11th September 2016. There are no acts confirmed yet for the festival's many stages.

Bestival 2016 early bird tickets are on sale now for a very limited period.

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Early bird tickets are priced at £180 for Adult Tickets and £120 for Teen (age 13-17) Tickets. Student tickets are priced at £170 (For full-time students only. Valid NUS or ISIC ID required at the box office. No other student ID accepted). Tickets for children (age 12 & under) are free (but must have a ticket). A campervan ticket is priced at £90 (per vehicle), and car parking is priced at £15 advance. A Wild Copse adult tickets is priced at £299, a Wild Copse teen ticket is priced at £149.50, and Wild Copse Child tickets are free. Prices are currently the same for Friday or Thursday entry.

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