It’s that time of year again when we start to look ahead to the Greenbelt festival and the good news is that the weather forecast is looking great! This year we are very excited to be one of the partners and co-hosts of the Exchange venue. We will have a stall staffed there throughout the festival, so even when there is not a programmed event you should be able to find us.
But in terms of scheduled events, you might like to come along to Entrepreneurs recreating 3rd spaces. Hear inspiring stories of buildings being repurposed to create well-used community resources and gathering points which are both income generating and sustainable. Come with your ideas and questions to put to a panel and share with other practitioners. We will have Mark Bamping from Candid Beer talking about his repurposing of a brewery, and someone who has used a church building to provide a home for an arts community. This will take place on Friday, 23rdAugust 2019 at 8.15pm in The Exchange.
The Saturday of the festival will be very busy for us and we kick off at 11am in The Exchange with Innovators reframing spirituality. Where people increasingly describe themselves as spiritual but not religious, hear stories of spirituality being reframed in creative ways to generate successful social enterprise. This will include Andy Freeman talking about Space to Breathe, Susie Baker sharing her experience of running retreats for couples at Pickwell Manor and Anne Underwood on the Kentigern School for Contemplation in Cumbria.
From 3.30pm in The Exchange there’s an opportunity just to hang out and chat to other pioneers and members of the Starfish Network. In The Shelter at 8pm Jonny Baker and friends will be leading us in creative and interactive worship with music, poetry, wisdom for the journey and an articulation of hope for the future. After this hotfoot over to The Exchange because from 8.30pm we will hosting a reception to celebrate the official launch of our new Northern Centre in Carlisle. You’ll need to bring one of our flyers with you as your ticket, which also entitles you to a free drink! If you haven’t received one by email, a limited number will be available from both our stand in the Exchange and the main CMS stand.
On Sunday, 25thAugust, from 11am in The Exchange there’s another opportunity to network and chat until the programmed activities begin and on the last day of the festival, Monday,12.30pm in The Exchange we have our final session entitled Pioneers reimagining a better world. This will include stories of how wanting to right a wrong has led to the creation of a social enterprise that both challenges the status quo and makes good business sense. The contributors in this slot will be Jenny Baker from Out of the Box Cards, a representative of the Op Shops in Carlisle Diocese and Martin Lawson giving an update on the ethical cleaning company in the City of London, Clean for Good.
Looking forward to seeing you there and do encourage others that you’re coming to the festival with or bump in to over the weekend, to come along to our sessions and find out more about the pioneer training we offer. Now not just in Oxford, but increasingly all over the country!