Posted by Eleanor White 28 May 2010
Sunday dawned even hotter still. At 11, those who could work up some energy headed to see what the workshop options were. Certainly a large number of others joined me on the woodland walk, which was a gentle stroll around the outside of site, learning about what trees do for us (via the 10 oak trees which had been planted on the site last year), and all sorts of fascinating facts about the woodland (some of which is classed as ’ancient’ - i.e. it’s been there since 1600!) we were walking through.
Once again the Hammer and Tongue stage was very well attended, with a couple of lunchtime talks on sustainable urban communities and sustainable energy lifestyles. And there was no being lazy and going to sleep either - we were strongly encouraged to participate in the latter, working in groups to come up with suggestions for different areas of our lives - work, transport, home. Somewhat surprisingly, given that it reminded me a little of being at school, I found this to be both edifying and inspiring.
Once again the festival quietened down for the afternoon workshop period, although shortly into it, the peace was loudly interrupted by the junk samba session, who then paraded around the site. I was quite impressed, however, that you really couldn’t tell that their instruments were made of junk!
The afternoon heat was relieved somewhat by the appearance of a portable branch of Oxford’s favourite ice cream parlour, which very soon gathered a large queue of happy customers!
Over at the Hammer and Tongue tent again, the afternoon’s poetry workshop was followed by a Poetry Slam, whilst over at the main stage, music was provided by Ben Folke Thomas and Frontier Ruckus (whose instruments included a musical saw!). They were followed in the tree tent for Timber Timbre, who made some rather interesting electronic soundscapes in the tent. Back to the outdoor stage to see The Unthanks, whose will doubtless be familiar to many of our readers. Their expanded lineup of 10 were struggling to fit on to the stage, and there were a number of occasions when 1 or 2 of them had to jump off the stage and get back on at the back! They entertained with a variety of folk songs with the sisters’ lovely harmonies, and entertained with a couple of clog dances as well.
Fed and watered, we returned to the main stage to catch the last act of the night, Frank Turner, whose lively songs were well appreciated by the audience. The campsite was noticeably more empty by the time the Wood Festival Allstars finished off the festival with a lively, dancy set to an audience determined to enjoy every last second of the festival, and who just kept demanding more.
Roll on next year!
Photos by Sam Styles
See all of Bright Young Folk's text interviews.