Timber Festival at home

This weekend should have been Timber Festival, the National Forest's celebration of all things related to trees. The first acts were announced back before New Year but like so much else it's had to be cancelled. So, as with Glastonbury, I decided to have a mini-festival of my own at home; fortunately the Wild Rumpus team behind the festival had made arrangements ...

First up, on Friday evening, was a live on-line high wire act from Chris Bullzini, watched, not from the ground, but from up on the tightrope! Using the 360 feature I could see treetops at eye level, and ground far (too far) beneath, and actually feeling a couple of feet away while someone decides to balance on their head on a rope high in the air is scarier than watching from below. I have NO head for heights so this is certainly the nearest I'll ever get for walking among treetops. If you're feeling adventurous, you can now catch these exploits here on YouTube.

Next I went over to The Ecologist online newspaper, where Timber were staging a 'takeover' for the day, with articles replacing the sort of discussions that would have taken place at the festival.

 So I could 'hear' what Sarah Lawfull had to say about Forest Schools and the importance of children being able to access nature and have safe but challenging outdoor places to learn in. I didn't go to a Forest School (I'm not sure they were around in the 60s) but I had a private forest to play - actually a dozen or so currant bushes at the bottom of the garden which seemed so tall to a small child, through which I'd wander searching for a hidden glade (small patch of grass) where in Spring narcissi and bluebells grew. I loved it, and I think it sparked my love of trees and forests.

 And read John Everitt, chief executive of the National Forest Company writing about the Green Recovery plan for the National Forest - once a place of open-cast mining and industrial sites, now gradually returning to the wild - and how the thinking behind that plan could inform our recovery from the economic impact of corona virus.

Chris White, Ian Convery and Adam Eagle 'talk' of similar ideas in 'Valuing Nature', offering an alternative perspective on planning and resources to Boris Johnson's virtual removal of planning conditions.

By this time, I decided I needed to see some actual trees, so as the rain had almost stopped I went out to Shipley Country Park for a walk.

I started Sunday by listening to Wilderness Tracks, a regular feature of the past Timber festivals were celebrities talk to Geoff Bird about their favourite nature-inspired pieces of music. His guest was Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock, presenter of The Sky at Night, and her choices mostly had a space-related theme to them, from Stevie Wonder's Moon Blue to Holst's Mars via Hildegard von Bingen's ethereal choral music from the twelfth century, and a return to earth with 'Cattle' from Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition. She spoke of the things that inspired her interest in space - her Nigerian father's love of the night sky, the Clangers TV series, and the explorations of Gagarin and Armstrong - and how she feels both looking into space or listening to music from centuries ago both lead us to transcend our everyday lives.

Then, it was back to the Ecologist 'tent' to read about Rewilding for Human Health, and Rowan Cannon on  Wild Rumpus' work creating Art and Wonder in Wild Green Places.

I ended the weekend with a trip to Timber's virtual forest - a soundscape collected from around the world. You can listen here and learn how to add the 'track' of your own local wood or forest. Knowing about the project I taped a segment in Shipley Park on Saturday, but cut it too short, so I need to try again.

The weekend wasn't the same as one spent sleeping under canvas, and sitting around on grass, or on logs under trees, but it was a break in the dull monotony of lockdown. Hopefully next year Timber will be taking place again, meanwhile there's last year to remember.