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.

Timber 2019 - an introductory overview

We're just back from a wonderful weekend at Timber Festival, courtesy of WildRumpus.org.uk. It's an event which combines music and fun with serious discussions on nature and environmental issues. Music, discussion, comedy, circus-style entertainers - imagine Edinburgh Fringe condensed into three days, and held in a forest.









For the rest of the year the 70 acre site at Feanedock in the National Forest is quiet and peaceful, but over the last week or so volunteers have transformed it, installing stages, marquees, bunting, art installations, and the all-important 'facilities' - compost loos on the festival site, proper water-flushing ones and hot showers on the campsite (these amenities matter so much, so how wonderful is that?)









 I'm going to be following up with more detailed posts but for now here are photos which I hope capture the joyous feel of Timber, and the wild and delightful things to be encountered there.

























There were two main music stages, Field Notes and Eyrie, and a smaller pop-up style one, Elemental, for music, poetry and talks. The fun isn't limited to the stages though.

Walking round you might encounter a swoop of (puppet) swallows, giant woodland insects, poetry on trees, discover the Eyrie stage hidden in the trees, a willow 'Earth' hung with messages of hope, super-sized board games, a giant marble run, juggling and acrobatics, and a campsite in the woods with story-telling and music.

Music wasn't just confined to the stages as Rimski and Handkerchief toured around with their bicycle piano and double bass, and The Baghdaddies accompanied a procession of cardboard figures made over the weekend by volunteers and children.

The Shimmer Tree

My favourite art installations, to which I returned time and again, were the Shimmer Tree, designed by Dan Fox, and a simple circle of hollow bamboo poles, both of which responded to air currents to make music.

 If some of this seems a bit hectic, you could find your way through a newly-created living maze, relax in a hammock with a book, book a massage or hot-tub session, or do as we did and slip slightly aside from the festival activities to take in the quiet of the forest, listen to birdsong, and later watch the sun set through the trees and from the Hollow Way Lookout.

Everything takes on a different aspect after dark, and, as the sun set, the festival site transformed into a magical wonderland.

There were of course some mishaps - mainly involving our camping set-up and lack of  waterproof coats - though there were a couple of cancelled events (sad but inevitable) and a stall which had sold out of sausage sandwiches for Sunday breakfast; the world was saved when we found bacon elsewhere :)

The weekend left me feeling refreshed and inspired, though at the same time physically exhausted so despite our intentions to stay till Monday we took the comfy option of heading home late on Sunday night. I found a lot of interesting new bands, and heard new ideas, or old ones I'd neglected, which I'd like to incorporate into my life,  but more of these later ...

Timber - enlighten, educate, and inspire

            -  music and more

            - practicalities - camping, food, and festival toilets 

Dates have now been released for next year 3/4/5 July and earlybird tickets are available at TimberFestival.org.uk

Since writing this, I've seen other reviews of Timber Festival, mainly from the point of view of families, so here are some links. Let me know if you were there too

The Brick Castle

Hodge Podge Days

Marvellous Mrs P

Typical Mummy

Timber Festival 2018

This weekend saw the launch of a new festival, Timber; a joint project between the National Forest Company and Wild Rumpus, with, at its core, the celebration of everything 'woody', through art, music, activities and discussions. 

The festival site, just outside Moira, on the border of Derbyshire and Leicestershire, was an area of fairly new woodland sloping quite steeply down from the car park and camping area, forming a natural amphitheatre for the main Nightingale stage, and with grassy avenues leading to other open grassy spaces, much like a series of linked rooms, with new 'finds' in each.




If you're a regular reader of the blog, you may remember how thrilled I was to be asked along, as a 'Timber Pioneer', and I'd been laying my plans of what to do and see, so, did it live up to my expectations? Absolutely! Did I follow my clever plan? Not entirely.

murmuration by day

We'd never intended camping for the weekend, as we wouldn't have been able to take our dog along, but going along for large parts of each day, while he guarded the house. As it turned out, family problems, plus the worry of leaving Dylan the dog for too long because of the heat, made it impossible to go for the length of time we'd planned. Plus, on Friday, I left my programme at home, so that part of my careful planning went to waste. We did, though, have an amazing time over the weekend.

Adam Weymouth

The festival was billed as 'family friendly' but it wasn't just a festival for children.

There were serious discussions on environmental issues taking place in the Field Notes tent. We sat in on one about food, how it finds its way From Field to Fork, and what some producers are doing to break the supermarket's grip, and keep production local and small scale. Listened to Adam Weymouth's talk about his journey down the Yukon river, and the challenges faced by the communities along its banks, as the salmon they once relied on are being severely depleted. Chatted to the Greenpeace rep about the wonderful response to The Blue Planet programme about plastic in the oceans, but the great challenges still facing us and the natural world.

Lots of the events and activities though were suitable for all ages.

High on my list of plans had been to catch Seek, Find, Speak, an outdoor theatrical companion to Robert McFarlane and Jackie Morris's book The Lost Words. These lost words are ones relating to the natural world - such as lark, bramble, and otter - which are disappearing from children's speech and writing. Dressed as a charm of goldfinches, the actors led us on a search for those words hidden around the festival site, bringing them to life through poems and dance. It mesmerised both children and adults (and given more time, I'd have watched again and again)




Another 'must see' was Luke Jerram's Museum of the Moon, a touring piece of art hidden for the weekend among the trees. By daylight, it seemed more scientific and technical; at night, ghostly and unreal.









 I found my way through a maze woven through saplings, and a labyrinth made of straw. Watched story-tellers and acrobats. Encountered a Carnival of Animals, discovered Forest Monsters, and rather wished I'd been small enough to go on the Bewonderment Machine, a pedal-powered carousel.

murmuration by night

The whole site was transformed by night - strings of lights led the way from the murmuration, to the Eerie stage, and another art installation, the Fire Garden

The Eerie Stage

The Fire Garden

Is it really safe?

Part of my plans for this year include trying 60 New Things. I settled for the struggle of trying to relax in a hammock, while my husband was delighted to be able to try 'long-reining' at the horse-logging demonstration. I'm not a fan of horses (they tend to bite me!) but I was interested to hear of the environmental benefits of using them for forestry work, instead of tractors.

Time was against us though and we didn't have chance to really check out all the activities on offer, from willow weaving to turning walking sticks on a pole-lathe.







Over the three days, we listened to a wide variety of music - Westerman, Jane Weaver, Ewan McLennan and Perhaps Contraption (a brass band like none you've seen) on the larger Nightingale stage; Sivu and Disco Lypso on the woodland Eerie stage. Plus of course, at a festival, it's always there in the background, even if you're doing something else.

One of the things being explored in various ways at Timber was the regenerative power of woodland - both physically, as it has in the Feanedock area transforming former open-cast mine workings into green hillsides, or emotionally and spiritually. Last week wasn't a good week at a personal level, but Sunday afternoon found me sitting on a hillside in the shade, listening to music, feeling relaxed and refreshed. What could be better? 

 All in all it was a fabulous experience - amusing, enlightening, entertaining in equal measure. I've now added an extra post on its suitability for 'oldies' like myself  https://maryomsthoughts.blogspot.com/2018/07/timber-festival-oldies-viewpoint.html


Next year, I hope, will be equally wonderful. The dates have now been announced as 5/6/7 July 2019 and super early bird tickets are now on sale  Or you can sign up for news at  www.timberfestival.org.uk