Categories: uncategorized
Date: 27 August 2007 17:41:41
I've been at Greenbelt for the last four days, and have done very little Left Behind stuff as I've been rushed off my feet doing enough stuff to earn me three tickets. I've done a visions service, read from my new book and done a lot of hours of Venue Managing.
Highlight 1 - Beer and Hymns
Both sessions of Beer and Hymns were fantastic. The venue was packed, you could hardly reach the bar and everywhere you looked there were hands and beer glasses raised. It was truly worship. For me it was the way that hymns were meant to be sung - with gusto and just an amazing atmosphere. I loved it.
Highlight 2 - Folk Club
Strictly speaking, this highlight happened during folk club, not at folk club. My friends little girl, aged 18 months was there and stole the show with the self confidence of a toddler. She is walking and running now, and was toddling up to first one person and then another, offering them the bit of rubbish that she had in her hands and then grabbing it back and running away to the next person. It was beautiful. She was the center of attention at Folk Club today as well, she'd just woke up and was sat on my knee eating her lunch and listening intently to the music.
Highlight 3 - New Forms
Something about the programme this year meant that there were long gaps between events and on Sunday there was two hours between my talky bit and the next service. I was there with some people from Bradford - including their two kids, one 8 weeks and one 2 and half years old. The venue was perfect for kids - the large cushions on the floor ended up as mountains for the two year old to climb and the smaller ones were the perfect size for the baby to sleep on. There were other kids in the venue too, waiting for an all age service to happen and the atmosphere was amazing. There was a big space for them to run round in, cushions for them to flop onto, and even tea and coffee for the grown ups!
Today I've had the pleasure of spending most of the day with various kids - the morning with an eight week old baby and the afternoon with an 18 month old. I found out how accessible the festival is for babies, and got lots of comments about how peaceful we looked just after I'd got the tiny one to sleep and had to explain lots of times that she wasn't mine.
Over the last few years our venue has changed quite a lot - there has been a shift from emphasis on alternative worship to including a lot of talk and dj and vj sets. Personally I think that in the shift we have lost something. This year at Greenbelt there are about 4 or 5 venues where you can see DJ and VJs - and only one dedicated to alt.worship. For example right now, there is a DJ and a VJ on and the venue is almost empty. And the leader just encouraged people to break dance - not in my venue they're not! Luckily they haven't - it wasn't on the risk assessment.
I'm heading home tommorow, back to Bradford, a warm bath and more reading of Left Behind.