Scorchio! I was sweltering by the time I arrived at the Folk by the Oak in Hatfield last week, but for a few minutes I stopped thinking about it, instead being stunned by the surroundings.
This was my first visit to the festival, and fresh off the back of the #IceClimb at the Shard about 10 days before we were all really pleased to be able to be able to answer the question we had quite a few times that day - 'so what?'.
The 'so what' came in different forms - so what was the point, what happened, what next? I think some combination of the ambience of the surroundings, the warmth of the day, the friendly festival crowd, and certainly not least, the fresh memory of the Shard ascent combined to create a great buzz around the Save the Arctic campaign. The questions we were asked showed me that awareness is spreading and the campaign has touched a lot of people. A number of visitors to our stall that aren't already associated with Greenpeace demonstrated that they have heard the message and they really do care. So for me, as well as being a hugely enjoyable day, it acted as a kind of barometer of the campaign's success in communication, and reflected significant and energetic support.
If you've never been to Folk by the Oak I recommend you get a ticket next year and hope for a sunny day. The picture I took that headlines this story really sums the day up for me. A lot of commitment from London volunteers, sweating it out for the arctic in a hot polar bear costume, much to the delight of all the children (and adults) at the festival.
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