Plasticine, precipitation and a very popular polar bear: this was Cornwall group’s excursion to the Rock Oyster Festival last weekend.
Friday
We arrived on Friday evening with high hopes and a box of wine, and after pitching our tents quickly got down to the main festival site to soak up some Rock Oyster atmosphere. Out of our initial group (Helen, Jo, Lisa and me – Becky) only Helen had attended the festival previously with the CFP campaign, and we were excited to sample some of the good times in the tales brought back last year.
The well stocked beer tent was the home of our first pep talk and where we watched the impressively bearded Louis Eliot and the Embers (nice chap, gave me some of his woo woo in the Igloo cocktail tent later that night.)
Suitably merry we headed over to the big tent for a dance, and were eventually rewarded with the utterly gorgeous and lovely Extra Curricular. They adopted us post-gig, and were rebranded Becky and the Male Components after a sweet drunk girl thought I was a member. Definitely worth checking them out; we’ve been singing Last Day since their set finished!
After a very smiley night we huddled back to our windswept tents and hoped for a sunny Saturday to sign up some Arctic Defenders.
Saturday
From the first trip down to our pitch to set up, we knew that the weather was not going to be on our side. However, we had tricks up our sleeves; a massive circular Arctic landscape with plasticine to build Arctic creatures, printed wristbands to colour in and – of course – our Greenpeace polar bear!
Our modelling and colouring stations were an instant hit, with lots of kids asking why we were there and wanting to know what was threatening the Arctic. Some of the models even had back stories (a personal favourite being the cyclops walrus that mutated after an oil spill!)
Phil and Debbie arrived late morning, with Debbie donning the bear and making rounds of the festival. There were lots of happy faces – and a few tears – and plenty of potential Arctic Defenders being sent our way.
However, as the wind blew harder and the rain grew more horizontal, our fear for our tents rose and footfall plummeted as people took refuge elsewhere. The miserable skies also acted as a deterrent for day visitors, but we weren’t ready to give up!
Cornwall group first-timer Jenna arrived in the afternoon to take the bear for a stroll, making a lot of people very excited (and striking fear into the hearts of a few.) A certain couple of little ones took a real shine to our lady-bear, and followed her halfway round the festival!
Tabards dampened but spirits high, we closed up for a debrief before I donned the bear for one last round. We went into the main stage, ironically just as the splendid Professor Elemental was in the middle of Animal Magic! He ended the song with “Well, I’ve just got upstaged by a dancing polar bear. Let’s hear it for Greenpeace and all the good they do!” A shout out from the most dapper chap in hip hop? Don’t mind if we do!
We finished our night with the psychedelic Slamboree experience and another less fancifully attired trip to see the Prof. Our final trip to the campsite was a weary one, as each step was a trudge closer to a potentially flattened tent.
Sunday
Luckily our little domes had held strong, and we all managed to get some sleep before the final push today! Coffee fuelled and hopeful, we were prepared for more bad weather but keen to make the most of any sunny spots that may surprise us throughout the day.
It was also the day that we decided to roll out our final potential crowd pleaser...facepaint. I had a little practice on Lisa and Jo (cheeks adorned with an Arctic fox and narwhal respectively) and nervously awaited my first customer.
The morning was very quiet, as Sunday mornings after a weekend of parting are wont to be, so Helen and Lisa popped out to see the lovely Martha Tilston perform. Martha had played at our Podraiser a couple of months earlier, so we thought it would be interesting to see her play in a less intimate venue.
However, though it had seemed safe at the time to halve our numbers, the word seemed to have suddenly got out that we were offering facepainting, and the tent was filled with a sudden clamouring crowd. Jo took control and managed to herd some excitable individuals towards the model-making and wristband colouring (both activities also causing excitement) but it was a relief when the other two returned.
The rest of the afternoon passed in a blur, with several repeat customers coming back to make a flock of plasticine creatures and to collect the full set of wristbands. An especially lovely moment was when one little boy tried to feed the propped-up polar bear costume some jellybeans, and upon being told that they eat seals not sweets, crafted a blubbery treat for his new furry friend to chow down on! Too cute!
Closing Time
We ended our weekend with a perfect cup of tea and slice of cake from the vintage tea tent, and though our total of 52 Arctic Defender sign ups wasn’t as large as hoped, we got plenty of people talking about our campaign. It was great for people of all ages to take a genuine interest in what we were doing, and not just show for the activities without taking in our message!
We ran a little tally of the bands coloured in, to see which Arctic animal was the visitor’s favourite. The snowy owl was last with only 10 bands being coloured in, with the walrus and polar bear tied in third place with 11 bands apiece. The narwhal was a clear second with 16 bands being chosen, but the winner by a long way was the Arctic fox, with 28 bands coloured and strapped to wrists!
Despite the weather, we had an awesome time at the Rock Oyster Festival. New friends were made and lots of people got excited about our campaign!
Massive thanks to the festival for having us, and to everyone that attended and helped out. Keep an eye out for us at the Eden Sessions 29th and 30th June!
In the meantime, check out our Flickr for photos from the weekend and other events.
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