The idea for Geofest came out of the work a group
of us have been doing supporting both adults and
children with disabilities, mobility problems and
particular needs, in outdoor community event/festival
situations. Many people have been coming to festivals
for years, and they now may be disabled or impaired
in some way. The 1995 Disability Discrimination
Act (subsequently amended by the Disability Discrimination
Act 2005) allegedly heralded a new beginning for
people with disabilities. The Act lays down a statutory
responsibility within which obligations have been
placed on organisations to be mindful of the multiplicity
of needs that must be taken into account when planning
events of a public nature. This means that any festival/gathering
must now consider not just the provision of an area
for people with disabilities to camp in, but accessibility
for everyone to the whole site.
Geofest is made up of a group of people who have
attended festivals for many years, and we have built
up a knowledge of working in festival situations
with people with disabilities. Because of the specific
outdoor nature of festivals, the needs of disabled
people have often been overlooked, and in reality,
can be difficult to provide for.
Geofest is here to try and redress the balance.
We can provide an area that can support people with
disabilities, along with their families and carers;
alongside practical advice and training to stewards
(which is crucial) in providing this service. In
conjunction with festival organisers and a site
visit we can also help advise on mobility across
the festival sites.
We have experience in putting together camping areas
that support specific needs, and we can provide
the infrastructure and workers needed to do this.
At this year’s (2005) Big Green Gathering we
ran an extremely successful area for 250 people
with disabilities and their families and carers.
This area included support for those with sensory
impairments (eg the deaf or blind), and learning
disabilities. We also provided support to those
that wanted to camp in the public camping areas,
but that needed some extra support, such as wheelchair
battery charging facilities. Our plans have been
built up and based on comments and suggestions from
people with disabilities who enjoy attending festivals.
Many of these people had been festival goers before
they became disabled, so they have seen events from
both sides and see no reason that with a bit of
thought and planning, they should not continue to
be festival goers.
Emphasis needs to be put on involving Geofest at
an early stage in the site planning and deciding
the physical infrastructure; and then later needs
to involve briefings for stalls, cafes, entertainment
venues and publicity.
SIGNAGE FOR THE GAMA AREA
BEING PAINTED We
can help festivals and outdoor events work out a
realistic costing for the needs of the area –
toilets, showers, a social marquee/support area,
electricity supply, water supply, etc. We can work
closely with festival organisers and health and
safety advisors to try and provide the best possible
for people with disabilities. We do not carry out
“personal care”, and we would come under
general site insurance. Our organisers and key staff
are CRB Police Checked. We can also advise on site
provision around the whole site, signage, easy routes,
safe areas for wheelchairs users to see bands, evacuation
routes, etc. Our costs are negotiable, depending
on the numbers of people that you would envisage
us working with. What is clear from the festivals
that we have worked with is that Geofest attracted
many dedicated festivals goers who want to continue
bringing their families and carers to the festivals,
and therefore more tickets were sold. The festival/event
may also need to consider the needs of performers
and other workers who have disabilities. Good access
arrangements and clearly visible signage around
the site also benefit families with young children
or elderly relatives, who also enjoy coming to or
visiting festivals.
The largest area we have organised so far is the
Gama (Green Access and Mobility Area) for The Big
Green Gathering 2005 (BGG). The Directors of the
BGG decided that in addition to merely fulfilling
the provisions of the new Act, they would endeavour
to surpass these provisions and attempt to make
the Big Green Gathering 2005 a beacon in terms of
its provisions for Disabled People.
A dedicated team of volunteers were recruited with
two co-ordinators. All the volunteers had experience
of Disability or working with people with Disabilities.
The initial point of reference was extensive consultation
with Disabled people who had been at previous Big
Green Gatherings or other Festivals to look at the
needs. In the interim, whilst this process was taking
place, extensive drainage work and work on laying
new paths across the site was taking place in order
to ensure that should the weather be as bad as in
2003, the site should not become waterlogged and
would remain accessible throughout. It was agreed
the “needs” were as follows:-
Clean, plentiful wide access toilets on the site
Safe Secure level Camping
Wide Access Showers
Wheelchair battery charging points
Central Information Point
Somewhere safe and dry in the event of extreme weather
conditions.
The Directors selected the flattest piece of land
on the farm site, adjacent to the farm house and
near to welfare and other services for the provision.
They also agreed to provide a marquee for shelter/information/
with electricity for wheelchair battery charging.
Wheel-chair accessible showers were sourced, and
the site was surveyed to ensure that all areas of
the Festival had wide access toilets.
As tickets went on sale, the telephone numbers and
contact address of the co-ordinators of the provision
were made available to people applying for concessionary
tickets. Immediately there was a vast amount of
interest, and the co-ordinators were inundated with
queries from many people with a plethora of different
needs and questions.
The Festival was open to the public for five days
in August. The Volunteer Crew for the field, which
by this time had been named the Green Access Mobility
Area (GAMA), as everyone wanted to get away from
the connotations of the “Disabled Field”,
arrived on site from the previous Saturday and began
to create a welcoming space within the Festival.
GOOD INFORMATION HELPS A
LOT As
the general public arrived at the festival, the
GAMA Field had been transformed. It was fenced;
It was laid out in designated camping areas for
each tent/vehicle, with clearly marked wheelchair
access lanes. Tents were to be erected so that they
were entered from the access lanes. They were also
to be erected in such a fashion to ensure that guy
ropes did not protrude into the access lanes causing
a hazard to the visually impaired or to users of
walking sticks. Cars were parked in such a fashion
as to ensure easy evacuation of the site should
this be necessary, and a risk assessment decision
was taken not to have individual campfires on the
site. Two communal fire pits and seating were built
adjacent to the marquee, which meant that this provision
could be constantly monitored. The marquee was decorated
and an information point and access to tea and coffee
provided. The latter was extremely welcome. Three
wide access toilets had been installed as had an
easy access shower with constant hot water.
As people arrived on the site, they were greeted,
offered tea or coffee, and then give assistance
with parking, erection of tents, site maps and general
information about the site, access, the location
of wide access toilets throughout the rest of the
festival site and information about the availability
of electric points for charging wheelchair batteries/
All of this information was most welcomed by the
majority of people who had chosen to camp with us.
At this stage, a very interesting and positive phenomenon
arose. Several people had arrived with families
and friends who were camping on other parts of the
Festival, for example in the travellers camping
area. They had thought that they would probably
not be able to camp with their friends because of
limited access to facilities. However, on learning
that we intended to keep the facilities of the GAMA
field such as access to battery charging, showers
etc. open until the festival closed around 1 a.m.
each morning, they decided that they were confident
enough to camp elsewhere. As a consequence, one
of our busiest times was between 1 and 2 a.m. when
people who were camping with friends or family went
to bed and sent their wheelchairs over to the GAMA
field to be recharged. A similar situation arose
in the morning when friends or family members came
to the GAMA field to collect the fully charged wheelchairs
to take them back to where the owners were camping.
One wheelchair user commented that this was the
first Festival that she had ever been to where she
had this freedom. Another young man expressed the
view that this was the first time that he had been
at a Festival where he could stay out until everything
finished at night secure in the knowledge that when
he got up next morning his wheelchair would be safe
and he had no worries about his batteries running
out of electricity.
People were also extremely impressed that the GAMA
field had accessible hot showers. One man, a regular
festival goer, had been unable to camp for many
years at festivals as he needed accessible showers
on a daily basis. As consequence he had only been
able to come to Festivals on a daily basis. On seeing
the showers and the toilets on the site, he sent
his family home to get their camping equipment and
for the first time in many years was able to fully
enjoy the Festival experience.
Several of the volunteers for the GAMA field were
experienced youth workers adept at running a variety
of creative craft workshops. They had designed a
programme of daily workshops based around construction,
painting, costume making and jewellery making. In
spite of the availability of a great deal of activity
elsewhere in the Festival, these proved to be extremely
popular. They culminated on the Sunday, when a brightly
dressed and colourful procession together with a
horse drawn cart left the GAMA field and went up
to the children’s field to participate in the
procession and end of festival party. A great time
was had by all.
One dilemma highlighted by a number of people who
had attended previous Big Green Gatherings was the
fact that after dark people with limited mobility
have very little to do mainly because of the difficulty
of the terrain of what is in essence a working farm
and the lack of lighting. As a consequence, the
volunteers decided that they would ask bands performing
at the festival if they would be prepared to perform
in the GAMA marquee. The response was splendid.
On the first evening, we had a performance of deaf
poetry followed by a band “The Don Bradmans”.
One woman commented later that she had been feeling
extremely isolated from the festival. Her carers
finished at 10 p.m. and she was alone in her tent.
She said that she was upset that she couldn’t
go to the festival and said “then suddenly
the Festival came to me!” This happened every
night at the Festival and many people who had not
been dancing at night for a long time were able
to do so. Families with children also appreciated
the fact that they could do this. The evening performances
were a great success, as were the camp fires and
outside seating where people sat up to the early
hours enjoying themselves.
HORSE DRAWN TRANSPORT WAS
ESPECIALLY HELPFUL Another
great asset to the GAMA field was the access to
horse drawn taxis across the site. Two women who
suffered from M.E. were unable to walk any distance
without feeling excessively tired. The volunteers
were able to book a horse drawn taxi exclusively
for their use for most of the day. The taxi took
them all over the Festival site, where they were
able to shop, dine and see all that the Festival
had to offer. Both commented that this day out made
the Festival for them both.
One perennial problem encountered at Festivals and
highlighted in consultation prior to the Big Green
Gathering was the general state of wide access toilets,
which are often used by those who could use other
facilities. As a consequence, they very quickly
become unusable. In order to avoid this, the volunteer
group set up a rota of “Toilet Fairies”
who inspected every wide access toilet on the site
every hour throughout the day, and if they needed
emptying or cleaning liaised with the toilet company
to ensure that this was done. This worked extremely
well and was much appreciated and commented on by
many people.
The above are just a small number of examples of
how the provisions of the GAMA field enhanced the
Festival going experience for a great many people.
On the last day of the Festival a meeting was held
in the Marquee where everyone who had camped in
the GAMA field or who had used the facilities was
invited to comment on what had happened and to suggest
improvements for future events. The feedback was
extremely positive with the general overriding feeling
that what had been attempted was unique in Festival
provision and was extremely appreciated by all concerned.
Many friendships and contacts had been made and
overall the Big Green Gathering 2005 had been a
most positive experience for people who had in the
past had difficulties in enjoying festivals to the
full.
A great many comments were made about future provisions
for the GAMA field. These included more access to
Signers (we had two), more seating on the festival
site so that people who had difficulty walking could
rest frequently, better tracking on the main pathways,
more consideration to access needs in venues and
cafes and consideration of relocation of the GAMA
field to a more central location. A large number
of offers of help for the next Big Green Gathering
were received including Massage Workshops, D.J.
Workshops for the Deaf run by a young woman with
profound hearing difficulties, Shiatsu and many
other things. Addresses and contact numbers were
exchanged and the whole meeting finished a happy
and positive note.
The age range of the GAMA field went from 3 months
old (a baby with brain damage who was cared for
in gama by his parents.); to an 80 year old couple,
the husband was deaf and the wife could not walk.
They felt happy and safe within the gama field,
and know they would be cared for in any emergency.
There were 79 disabled vehicle passes issued (based
on production of the disability blue badge). There
were approx. 300 people camping in the gama area
– disabled adults, disabled children, their
carers and their families. There were also other
people with disabilities (approx) around 30) who
were camped in other areas of the festival but linked
in with gama and used their facilities – eg
wheelchair battery recharging, accessible showers,
information and support.
For 2006 Geofest has secured an Awards for All grant
to continue supporting and evolving the Gama area
at the Big Green Gathering. We are also hoping to
work alongside other festivals and to incorporate
our work to other festival areas as well –
such as the music marquees and children’s areas.
It is our hope that by working together with you
we can truly invite in people with disabilities
and particular needs and give them an opportunity
to experience, enjoy and learn from the experience
of festival. If you are interested in these ideas
and would like to discuss them further, please do
contact me, Jos Colover <jos@dreamdragon.free-online.co.uk>
We
can help festivals and outdoor events work out a
realistic costing for the needs of the area –
toilets, showers, a social marquee/support area,
electricity supply, water supply, etc. We can work
closely with festival organisers and health and
safety advisors to try and provide the best possible
for people with disabilities. We do not carry out
“personal care”, and we would come under
general site insurance. Our organisers and key staff
are CRB Police Checked. We can also advise on site
provision around the whole site, signage, easy routes,
safe areas for wheelchairs users to see bands, evacuation
routes, etc. Our costs are negotiable, depending
on the numbers of people that you would envisage
us working with. What is clear from the festivals
that we have worked with is that Geofest attracted
many dedicated festivals goers who want to continue
bringing their families and carers to the festivals,
and therefore more tickets were sold. The festival/event
may also need to consider the needs of performers
and other workers who have disabilities. Good access
arrangements and clearly visible signage around
the site also benefit families with young children
or elderly relatives, who also enjoy coming to or
visiting festivals. 
As
the general public arrived at the festival, the
GAMA Field had been transformed. It was fenced;
It was laid out in designated camping areas for
each tent/vehicle, with clearly marked wheelchair
access lanes. Tents were to be erected so that they
were entered from the access lanes. They were also
to be erected in such a fashion to ensure that guy
ropes did not protrude into the access lanes causing
a hazard to the visually impaired or to users of
walking sticks. Cars were parked in such a fashion
as to ensure easy evacuation of the site should
this be necessary, and a risk assessment decision
was taken not to have individual campfires on the
site. Two communal fire pits and seating were built
adjacent to the marquee, which meant that this provision
could be constantly monitored. The marquee was decorated
and an information point and access to tea and coffee
provided. The latter was extremely welcome. Three
wide access toilets had been installed as had an
easy access shower with constant hot water.
Another
great asset to the GAMA field was the access to
horse drawn taxis across the site. Two women who
suffered from M.E. were unable to walk any distance
without feeling excessively tired. The volunteers
were able to book a horse drawn taxi exclusively
for their use for most of the day. The taxi took
them all over the Festival site, where they were
able to shop, dine and see all that the Festival
had to offer. Both commented that this day out made
the Festival for them both.