Greenbelt 2011 - Dreams of Home

We've been back from Cheltenham a few days now and it feels like we've never been away. I really love Greenbelt but it is always over too quickly and this year was no exception. The weather was a bit of a let down this time round, it has to be said. Torrential rain on Friday evening meant that we bottled out of Billy Bragg on the main stage and sought shelter instead in the Jesus Arms where we encountered assorted ASBOites. We rolled out around one-ish, significantly later than anticipated. There were sporadic showers all weekend, which, apart from the Friday evening, tended to be light, fine rain but the worst of it was that it was ridiculously cold for the time of year. However, you can't let the weather spoil the weekend and we made the most of the event.

The content of our Greenbelt took on a more political flavour than usual. We listened to Faisal Islam, the Economics Editor of Channel 4 News who clarified the finer points not just the national but the global economic crisis. He later took part in a panel with three others. We also attended a talk by David Loyn, the International Development Correspondent for the BBC, who raised interesting points about what shapes the news as we see/hear it and how the nature of news is changing with the advent of social networks. The talk which affected me the most this year was brought to us by Palestinian, Salim Shawamreh who was speaking on behalf of ICAHD (Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions). He invited the audience to imagine what it would be like to have your house demolished, something which he has experienced not once but 4 times. It is an utterly horrendous situation. Recognition of Palestine as a state would certainly be a move in the right direction to resolving the plight of the Palestinian people and the UN will be voting on this issue next month. William Hague is undecided as to how the UK will vote so there is still time to lobby MPs. So, Esther McVey can expect something in the post! The only talk I attended of a spiritual nature was by Padraig O'Tuama. I was intrigued by the name of the talk, Our Lady of Greenbelt. As a Catholic, I struggle with Marian spirituality. On the one hand, I think that many of my fellow Catholics can have a tendency to deify Mary and understand why Protestant Christians can accuse us of 'worshipping Mary'. On the other hand, I always think that Jesus must get a bit hurt the way some not only disregard but actually insult His mum. I know that sounds simplistic and childish but it is the way I think about it. I must admit, Padraig left me feeling much happier about Mary's role and my attitude towards her, which is the last thing I was expecting.

We took in more music than usual with Soweto Kinch, Gentlemen's Dubb Club, Get Cape Wear Cape Fly, Duke Special, Idlewild, Kate Rusby and Ron Sexsmith. Phil had spent most of the last few months looking forward to seeing Ron Sexsmith and we weren't disappointed. We had originally planned to stay over until Tuesday, but this plan was scuppered when Phil discovered that Ron was on at 7pm on Monday evening...so I had to miss the Unthanks and Mavis Staples...oh, well, you can't have everything. Probably some follow-up music purchases are in order.

Sadly we didn't get up in time for the Greenbelt Communion this year which is a shame. But we managed to get to the Blessed service at 5.30 on Friday evening to support Metanoia featuring Robb and Dr Ruth. If only all masses could be like that one. We also managed to get to a service by our friends at Sanctuary Bath - a late one at 11.15pm but a very relaxing and focused end to the day.

The trouble with Greenbelt is that it is so packed with activity and punctuated with conversation, it seems to be over so very, very quickly. Oh, well, there's always next year!

All Set for Greenbelt 2011!!

Well, overall, the weather looks pretty abysmal and actually rather typical August Bank Holiday weather. So I suppose sunny intervals are good. Can't see it, though.

Greenbelt 2010: Through the back of the wardrobe.

It struck me, as I reacquainted myself with the festival site on Friday, that Greenbelt is a lot like Narnia. Each year, you arrive back and it's as though you've never been away, that the intervening 12 months didn't take place. You just carry on from where you left off. As soon as you've sussed out the new names of the old venues, you're away!

This year was the first year that we had no need of a tent. Just me and him indoors safely held in Maggie's (our van's) embrace. So it was simple case of arrive, sit about in a queue for what seemed like several years before driving onto the campsite and parking up...easy!

We seemed to pack in quite a bit this year. It was a privilege, as always, to hear Richard Rohr speak. We only got to the first talk but we bought the CDs and hope to spend some time in the Winter evenings being challenged by those. He is always such good value - when other speakers seem to recycle material, Richard Rohr always seems to have something new for you to chew on. Bruce Kent was fab, too - he has such a lively mind at 80 - I wish I had half his intellect now! I also got to see Mark Yaconelli and regular Greenbelt favourites who never disappoint, Maggi Dawn and John Bell.

I enjoyed hearing Dave Wiles of Frontier Youth Trust. I've long been impressed by Dave's capacity for storytelling and illustrating basic truths through story. He has a book out called Stories from the Edge, which I am going to buy as soon as my funds allow. I don't think the YMCA cafe made a very good venue, though, as there was too much coming and going and people chatting over their lunches...well, it is a cafe! Shame there wasn't a small talk venue like the CMS and Blah tents they had the other year.

I like to try and support events connected to Jonny Baker. His is one of the two blogs that I've consistently read during the last 4-5 years now without tiring...and he's a good bloke (despite being a Chelsea fan!) This year that meant an airing of Landskapes, an album of sounds from the Grace worship community in Ealing and a conversation on the topic of curating worship. This is also the theme of Jonny's new book called, surprisingly enough, Curating Worship. Jonny led a really inspirational discussion with contributors, Steve Collins of Grace and Cheryl Lawrie who is involved in creative worship activity in Melbourne. God, they make it sound so easy! I came away with lots of brilliant ideas which will, no doubt, gather dust in some dark corner of my brain. I also shrugged off shyness and fear of doing the wrong thing and attended a Grace service which I really enjoyed, though I'm not saying it was a gaffe-free zone on my part.

Performance-wise, I loved seeing fellow scouser, Roger McGough, of whose work I've been a fan for years. Beverley Knight was superb. Best surprise was Michael McDermott. I liked the look of him from his website and so decided to take a chance on him. It was a good call.

I still managed to fit in some time for social activity and whilst I missed my lovely mate Jon , I was thrilled and delighted to have his gorgeous wife Clare all to myself for what must have been a good couple of hours. To keep the spirit of ASBOJesus alive, I met over coffee (or alcohol) with Janetp, Linus, Tiggy and the lovely, funny Dennis and his delightful wife Sha. I didn't see nearly enough of Sonia and Iain (who was little more than a Will o' the Wisp in Messy Space). But I briefly met Allatseawithabucketandspade and Rebecca.

Greenbelt...it's all about the people, innit?

Me with Clare...ignore me - I look like I am having a stroke!

Greenbelt 2009: Standing in the Long Now

Just got back from our 5th Greenbelt and the more we go, the less it seems to be about the programme. What is seldom is, indeed, wonderful as my mum always reminded me and Greenbelt provides the opportunity to catch up with friends from other parts of the country. Most notably, I get to see my 'family' from my fave blogs, ASBOJesus and Sanctuary. ASBOJesus has, in particular, provided a safe space for me to be me. Never one for feeling entirely at home in a typical church setting, the virtual community at ASBOJesus accepts me as I am, complete with my many foibles which then enables me to cope with the frustrations of being in the margins of church. It has evolved into something which is far more than the sum of its blog parts. Not having had the smoothest of times in the past couple of years, I have felt hugely supported by Jon, Clare, Sonia and Dennis so it was great to meet and chat in person.

The spin-off from these relationships is that we found ourselves at a couple of Proost events over the weekend. My particular favourites from the superb line-up were Andi Mac's 'I Love Elvis', a quirky little animated parable and Dubb, who was confident last year but whose presence had grown considerably since we last saw him at GB08. Not only is he a hugely talented wordsmith, his verbal dexterity in delivering the lines is nothing short of breathtaking. His debut album, Rhythm and Poetry, is now available from the Proost website. Speaking of breathtaking, on Saturday he was more than ably supported by Tyte, the human beatbox. I'm sorry, I just don't get how you can make so many sounds with one little mouth! Tyte has some beatbox tutorial videos on youtube and I once remember having a go myself...yes, I know it is not seemly for a 47 year-old mum to do such things, but I did it in private and I wasn't hurting anybody...anyway, I only succeeded in getting spit all over my laptop screen and it didn't even sound any good. So hats off to Tyte. I thought Jon was an extremely good sport joining in with the 'singy' bits, perhaps next time he should turn his cap around the other way and wear a bit more bling, just for aesthetics! Anyway, I thought it was all good but those were my fave bits. I suggest that, if you want a bit more of a flavour of what Proost is about, you download these freebies.

The Sunday service was a bit disappointing this year because there was no communion, due to all the swine flu bollocks, and the peace was an 'elbow bump'. I really think that if I am going to catch swine flu it is more likely to be via droplets catapulted from someone's vocal cords in an over-enthusiastic fit of congregational singing than by a handshake. Anway, after the main service, a significantly smaller congregation gathered over at the children's festival where consecrated elements were available for those who wanted them. I wondered who was going to be responsible for glugging all the leftover 'wine'.

The beer tent was a better layout this year - a smaller bar meant it was more spacious inside. In addition, there was a wine bar (or was it a wind car?) which provided a rather more sophisticated ambience. It was called 'NUN' and was adorned with blue lights, Aah! the days when all you had to worry about was whether to drink Blue Nun or Black Tower...it was all Liebfraumilch to me... Far too much choice these days and it leads to snobbery; any old plonk used to be the sophisticated alternative to half a lager and lime. Anyway, I digress. Back to the point, we met Dennis and Sharron there on Sunday evening and DJ Jonny Baker was providing the chilled beats (is the poor lad having to moonlight to make ends meet?)

What else did we actually do there? We listened to Gene Robinson, the first openly gay bishop (is that right?). He seemed a nice man but I had trouble staying awake in his talk. Hmm...sex and spirituality - either is great on its own, but for some reason, the instant you get a clergyman combining the two, somehow it becomes inert. I couldn't be bothered queuing for Rob Bell, having been turned away from his first talk which was hugely over-subscribed. But I listened to the Q & A session at the Grandstand. I liked him but I'm not that keen on farties from the audience asking questions. Some come up with good questions but often they are completely dire. I checked out Maggie Dawn and will probably get hold of her Advent book this year. At least one John Bell talk is de rigeur at GB and this is how we chose to open our festival.

Oh and I loved the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble. A big selection of horns and a drummer with a little bit of hip hop thrown into the mix. I was reminded of Earth, Wind and Fire's funky horn section and couldn't resist the temptation to shrug off my terribleh English sensibilities and have a little boogie in the Bank Holiday sunshine...just kinda got me in the zone, if you know what I mean. Just as long as no-one saw me! I now discover that my EWF connection was well-spotted since the eight brothers in the band are sons of one Phil Cohran, a jazz trumpeter who worked with some of the EWF horn section and was a musical influence on Maurice White. So there! Enjoy!

Greenbelt '08 - the Rising Sun

Boo- hoo!!! Just back from Greenbelt '08. A fab time was had by all, as always. There was a significant amount of mud. Well the theme of this year's event was 'the Rising sun' so what do you expect? The Greenbelt communion service was at 3pm this year and the heavens opened right on cue. Oh, the irony!

The big memory of this year's event was the people. Having spent the year virtually connecting with a bunch of people at ASBOJesus it was great to have the opportunity meet up with a few of them at Greenbelt. Top of the list was creative genius, Jon Birch, who gave life to ASBOJesus. His blog of quirky little cartoons has grown into something of a community. I have known, for a long time (well, not that long in the grand scheme of things), that Jon has an enormous generosity of spirit, but to see him in action, the authentic enthusiasm and love for people was amazing. What a beautiful man! I was equally bowled over by the warmth and friendliness of Jon's wife Clare and good friends Sonia and Iain from the Sanctuary community in Bath. It was great to finally meet Robb and Dr Ruth who consistently contribute so much good sense and humour to the ASBO debates and Janetp who has more recently brought a new insight to the blog with her thoughtful and intelligent commenting. Caroline Too, I did enjoy meeting you - embrace your 'poshness', it's part of who you are. I was also privileged to briefly meet the ultra-cool (I am seriously not worthy) Jonny Baker, Jon's creative partner in crime with Proost. Far less scary was the introduction to Dubb aka Harry Baker. A fresh talent with a great future.

There wasn't much on the music programme which tickled my fancy but I did enjoy Emmanuel Jal. I forgot all about Daby Touré. I missed a few things that I wanted to see - damn Greenbelt programme! When are they going to come up with an online personal programme planner, which you can log into and input all of the things you want to see and the system generates a best fit before you arrive on site? I wanted to see Brian McLaren but only managed one talk which I wasn't particularly inspired by. I gave John Bell a miss this year. Best talk treat was Philip Yancey, whose books I love. I also went to Jenny Baker's talk on gender difference/similiarity with particular reference to church leadership. It was entertaining. I remember going to a workshop session on prayer which Jenny did with Pete Greig at Spring Harvest in 2002. This was a different set up, of course but she seemed a lot more feisty than I recalled from back then. Or was it just a different approach for the mainstream Spring Harvest punters? Best discovery was Pete Rollins. I went to his talk on Monday afternoon simply because I'd heard of him and there was nothing else on. I don't know how I got the impression, but I'd kind of thought of him as some cool, academic type (there is nothing I've read to reinforce this false impression). He looked about 15, and talked too fast. I figure if he had a fag in one hand and a pint of Guinness in the other, it might have stopped him playing with his hair so much. I have met pub philosophers a bit like him before but he has clearly developed the style to a fine art. I'm not altogether sure my brain had the time to process everything he said, but he said enough to stimulate my brain cells and stave off Alzheimer's for a week or so...or possibly advance it. It was a lively and entertaining performance. I sense that he is a work in progress and his ideas may be a bit more intelligible a few years down the line. I liked him.

Well, the tickets for Greenbelt 09 are already on sale. Things to do before next year:
(a) Grow a third arm - invaluable when you are trying to balance paper plate of food, paper cup of drink, bag of essential items, programme and folding stool.
(b) Contact Greenbelt organisers with a view to setting up a new venue - a tent where you can go to catch up on lost sleep. Suggested name for venue : Rest in the Spirit.

Long time no write...

Quite some time since there was some keyboard tapping in these parts. Since then, we have spent some time with his Lordship's folks at their caravan just outside Llanberis in North Wales and we have been to Greenbelt. Busy, busy, busy! Llanberis was lovely - we have had just about the cruddiest summer on record but the sun shone for us in Wales. We didn't do anything particularly out of the ordinary there but just spent time together, which was lovely. My dad-in-law has bought a couple of inflatable kayaks so the men and my two girls had loads of fun just messing about on the lake. It was lovely to see them all just having a laugh. Mum-in-law has armchair kayaking off to a fine art and shouted instructions from the bank, between pouring cups of hot tea. I do not do fun things. I am still traumatised from being crap at anything sporty when I was at school and the response it got from mildly sadistic PE teachers and thick but sporty fellow pupils. But I love to watch people enjoying themselves in sporting pursuits. I told my girls that I do not betray the ideal mother circa 1950 - I do nothing physical, instead I stand at the bank and call "Oh, do be careful!" like the lady who does the voiceover on Andy Pandy. We had some lovely food, the highlight of which was the food at the Peak Restaurant in Llanberis. Well recommended if you are in those parts. Excellent food and warm, hospitable service.

We were home a day and then off to Greenbelt. We had a fab time, as always. It didn't start so well with my eldest (21 years) being ill. She had left us early on Friday evening saying she didn't feel brilliant. At about 10.30 we were soaking up the atmosphere watching Fuse Factory when we got a call to say she had been sick. We hurried back to find two inflatable mattresses, one sleeping bag, a pillow and various other items covered in puke! I just looked and wondered how the hell we were going to sort it out with no electricity and no running water! How we managed to restore it to any semblence of normality with a roll of Andrex and a few litres of cold water, I don't know. Despite initial ranting like "We're just going to have to go home tonight!" we managed to put it behind us and enjoy the weekend. I'm afraid I wasn't as sympathetic as I could have been to my girl but I think she forgives me now! Highlights for me were Matt Redman, Mark Yaconelli, Greenbelt Communion and Delirious? And the weather was glorious!

Back home now and the new bunny is in residence - she is called Rosie (at least we think it's a 'she')

Thanks to Dave Walker over at the Cartoon Church for his wonderful witty cartoons.