Categories: uncategorized
Date: 03 July 2005 13:42:28
The festival in The Meadows was an amazing gathering of a community. The coalition which makes up the Make Poverty History campaign has involvement from a variety of charities, faith groups & unions. These came together in the campaign zone.
This was a riot of colour and a celebration of NGO's. Tear Fund were face painting (they used their campaign colours of blue & white, that was why I spent much of the day with a v.strange face in Tractor colours). They were also selling a variety of limited edition t-shirts which were v.good. World Vision were giving out whistles and foam hands, for a donation and Action Aid supplied Bandanas, amongst others (by the way if this has worked all the links in this section link to sites with reports / photos of the day).
The aim of this section was to raise awareness and visibility of both the campaign and various, specific, NGO's.
There was also a zone which had a childrens area and a contemplation area (faith tent) in it. Back here later to begin part three. Third Party went wandering in the kidz area whilst I was wibmeeting & did some crafty type stuff in there. Northumbria Community were just one of the groups involved in the contemplation area.
Then there was the main stage area. Billy Bragg was comparing Baba Mahl (think I've spelt it right), Texas, Daniel Beddingfield, Eddie Izzard also appeared there. However, think the fact we only spent 15 mins in that bit, whilst eating explains that Edinburgh was not about celebrity, but something more. That said there was a good size festie crowd consistently in there, soaking it up and learning a little more about what it was all for.
It was kind of like Greenbelt meets Glasto meets Cropredy overall interms of the vibe, the community, the message and the activities on offer.