How can I sum up the weekend when Bristol East Greenpeace took up residency at The Parlour Showrooms in the centre of Bristol to show off the local entries for the Flag for the Future competition and gain support for the Save the Arctic campaign?
Saturday - 8 am and welcome to the ‘Get In’ crew, getting the space shipshape and Bristol Fashion.
125 flag designs submitted from young people in the locality - pegged up and doing a good job to represent hope, peace and global community.
We’re not completely ready but here comes the first visitor – the man in the Red Trousers no less! City mayor, George Ferguson signs up to support the Save the Arctic campaign.
Lauren T works her magic in starting off the Arctic community wall with her lovely illustrations. Later dubbed the ‘Nar wall’ it was a great hit with a fantastic collection of doodles and comments.
Hmmm time to get some custom so time to deploy the snowy owl, narwhal and polar bear – get them in ‘ere! How can we fail to get noticed!
By 11am the place is thriving with a steady stream of visitors, signing the petition, badge making, doodling on the wall, chatting and designing their own flags for the future. Great vibe with a lotta love for the Arctic.
Memorable visitors were the lady with ‘Flat Stanley’, the hen party (all wanted to make badges!), a local brownie came in to proudly show off her flag to her parents.
A great team of smiling, happy volunteers – infectiously enthusing those passing by to make a small detour towards our laptop to sign up to the campaign.
Come the end of the day I am really ‘flagging for the future’ – but realise we got to do it all again on Sunday! And we did. Lots more art and action for the Arctic.
All in all – a fantastic weekend with a great team of volunteers. I went away, tired but proud. Now the task of choosing a couple of local Flag for the Future winners, before the entries are sent to London for final judging. It would be wonderful if the winning flag came from our area.
There are so many people to thank for their help during the weekend. Everyone played a positive role and contributed to the success of the event. A huge thank you to one and all. And thanks to The Parlour Showrooms for being a perfect venue to operate from.
Pictures from the weekend can be found at here
There is still time to enter the international Flag for the Future competition - entries need to be sent to Canonbury Villas by 27th February 2013. Details about the competition can be found at The Flag for the Future website. To sign the Save the Arctic petition and add your name to the Arctic Scroll click here.
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