The year started with the Winter Social in February which was held at the YHA in Stow-on-the-Wold. About 25 people, a mix of trustees, volunteers and past interns, gathered to catch up with each others lives. A long and very wet walk was undertaken to Bourton on the Water about 6 miles away. But everyone survived.
The Spring Trustees meeting followed in March and was held in the Farmhouse at Bransford courtesy of our landlords Will and Janne Toobey. Following the meeting we went to plant 10 old early fruiting varieties of apples tree around the site.
In May a number of the Trustees gathered for a working weekend to carry out maintenance on some of the equipment. There were improvements to the toilets replacing the metal drums with attractive wooden ‘thunder boxes’, weeding of various flower beds around the site, and sorting out kit.
The season started in mid June with the arrival of a few trustees and 5 interns to prepare the site for set up. It had been a wet start to summer and the weather pattern not only continued but intensified with torrential downpours that quickly saturated the site. It was impossible to get vehicles on site at times and quite a bit of kit had to be moved on trolleys. Set up continued with about 30 to 35 people and we just made it to a finish point when the first conference delegates arrived in pouring rain. Despite long stretches of coconut matting on major walkways, the site got more and more muddy and boggy. It was decided to put down pallets on all major through-fares and this proved to be very successful at dividing people from the mud making it a much more pleasant experience for all.
There were 5 events this summer. We started by hosting two community choirs for Alfresco Accappella, then held a Private View which was also attended by about 12 members of the Association of Sustainability Practitioners. After a break of about 5 days we hosted Play England , then the EcoPsychology Group and finished with Resurgence. The rain did not let up much during the whole summer, though there were the odd days of rain.
Takedown was hampered by the continual wet weather or the threat of wet weather. We were helped however, by the loan of the now defunct tall packing sheds belonging to the nursery where we were able to hang even the largest pieces of canvas to dry. Because of a lot of double handling, take down took quite a bit longer and we finished day 11.
This year we had a new office caravan that seemed twice the size of the old one but enabled there to be much more harmonious working conditions for those concerned and the treasurer had a separate room for counting and accounting. It was also the first season for the newly incorporated Hospitality and Housekeeping department. This was instigated to give a feeling of cohesion and belonging to all the people working in small separate departments. So it combined rent-a-tents, kidz, café, toilet and shower cleaning and site tidy. There wasn’t much call for flower watering this year although this was one of the duties of the department.
We continued our education programme for interns and volunteers with similar sessions as last year but included others such as ‘hitch-hiking across the Atlantic the eco friendly way’ and a lecture from one of our Spanish volunteers on the economic situation in Spain and why they are suffering more than in Britain. The proposed canoe trip down the Wye had to be cancelled due to too much water in the river making it dangerous. Instead we had a trip to Forest of Dean to play in a maze, play miniature golf and then visit Goodrich Castle. Another trip to the Bacon Theatre in Cheltenham for an outdoor performance of The Importance of Being Earnest was enjoyed in spite of a deluge of rain in the middle of the play and everyone ran for cover in the neighbouring gymnasium where the play continued.
We had the usual wonderful selection of past and new volunteers from UK and around the world with 9 different nationalities represented. This year the largest contingent was from Spain and Spanish speaking countries (Chile too).
Despite such challenging weather this summer, the season was a success because despite the very challenging conditions we hosted all the events that were booked and most people had an enjoyable stay. We had lots of very good feedback from delegates and conference organisers. Many of the volunteers stayed on longer than they had originally booked in for which was also an indication of their enjoyment of the project. The field has taken quite a beating with so many people trampling around in wet conditions and so the Autumn meeting will have to consider how the field can be used in a different way to allow the most heavily used areas to recover.
The Autumn AGM trustees meeting is to be held in Herefordshire in October followed by a spring meeting in 2013.
The Winter Social will be at a YHA in Derbyshire in Feb 2013.
Green and Away 