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This summer we’ve been campaigning, stewarding, selling stuff and generally having a brilliant time at all the best British festivals. So who’s better placed to give you the ultimate festivals review of 2005?
 We’ve taken the Make Poverty History, Make Trade Fair and Control Arms campaigns to pretty much all of the big summer festivals, including Glastonbury, WOMAD and V. We’ve also provided the stewards for literally dozens of festivals, and our trading division has been selling wellies and blankets galore. Here’s a run-down of our own highlights from this year’s festivals.
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It was our first year with the bikes, boards and blades at the National Adventure Sports Show (down the road from Glasto) and it was just awesome. Our Fair Trade café and cinema tent– complete with campaigning campervan – was crammed with festival-goers until the early hours. What’s more, over 5,000 new supporters gave their backing to the Big Noise Petition to Make Trade Fair. As one NASS-goer, Vicky Dowdeswell (17) from Bristol said, “Oxfam coming to festivals is brilliant, because it means they get through to an audience who hadn't heard of the issues before, and really raise awareness.”
Full NASS round-up and pictures >>
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Our Control Arms team took their campaigning tent to WOMAD to raise awareness about the Women Under Fire campaign. As the sun came out over the weekend, a team of 15 campaigners collected well over 5,000 sign ups for the Million Faces Petition, and back stage Youssou N’Dour and French band Les Yeux Noirs voiced their support. We also did a roaring trade in selling Saris for Oxfam.
More about the Control Arms campaign >>
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We braved the sun and the dust at the ‘UK’s biggest electronic music festival’ to spread the word about Make Trade Fair. We had around 250 stewards who helped to raise cash for Oxfam, as well as a trading stall selling everything from old wedding dresses to leather jackets and campaigners collecting signatures for the Big Noise Petition.
More pics from Glade >>
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Lovebox – a dance weekender in Victoria Park, London, and organised by Groove Armada – was another first for Oxfam this year. We got our campaigning campervan down there (after a most unwelcome puncture on the M4) and then set about selling our fabulous t-shirts and getting every musician, DJ and pop star who crossed our path to show their support for Make Trade Fair. 2005 dance phenomenon Mylo and even Science from Big Brother were among those to stop and say hello.
Photo story from the Lovebox Weekend >>
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Across the two V Festival sites a whopping 15,000 people showed their overwhelming support for Make Trade Fair by signing the Big Noise Petition. We couldn’t have hoped for more. In Stafford our chill out tent and fair trade café – complete with DJs, sofas, giant board games and great visuals – was a real hit. And the great and the good were just queuing up to back the campaign – Kasabian, The Stands and Idlewild all said ‘Make Trade Fair’, and Embrace even donned our t-shirts on stage.
Full V round-up and pictures >>
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Our campaigners at Leeds and Reading were raising awareness about Make Trade Fair and asking festival goers to sign the Big Noise petition - they got a staggering 18,000 people to pledge their support.
It was a hectic weekend of loud guitars, late night partying, tshirt selling and coffee drinking. We also went backstage and got a whole load of our musical friends to pose for photos and let us know what they think about our work.
Carling Weekend photo story >> |
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As well as campaigning, Oxfam also ran ethical shops at most of the festivals this year with tshirts, Make Poverty History gear and a whole load of Fair Trade products. We've just heard from our trading people and can reveal that our volunteers...
...put in 45 working days over 15 weekends, travelled approximately 5,500 miles and took a total of £107,000. Yep, you heard right, £107,000!
Thanks to everyone who helped and to all you lovely people who bought something from one of our stalls. |
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Ben Beaumont
28
Oxfam campaigner at NASS
 "It was my first time campaigning for Oxfam at a festival, so it was all just a great experience. The best bit for me was seeing loads of people do a bit of a double-take; people usually associate Oxfam with second hand shops, so it was great to see them change their attitude and appreciate the whole set up we had at NASS, with the sofas, films, giant board games and stuff."
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Louise Sowden
23, Oxfam campaigner at V Stafford
 "Getting sign ups at the Channel 4 stage at V Stafford. Hearing all the positive comments about what Oxfam were doing at the festivals whilst catching bits of the Magic Numbers and K T Turnstall at the same time. The sun was shining, everyone was happy - a great atmosphere!" |
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Adam Cairns
24, Oxfam campaigner at Lovebox and Leeds
 "Hard to pick between listening to Mylo rocking the joint at Lovebox and meeting up with fellow campaigners Becks and Chris at Leeds festivals. They had come straight from V to Leeds - 1 whole week without a shower, it wasn’t pretty!" |
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Chris Rose
23, Oxfam campaigner at all the festivals!
 "There are a lot of moments to pick from but nothing quite topped one night at Leeds. It was 2am and we had just stopped the music and turned the lights up. A spontaneous round of chanting 'Oxfam, Oxfam' broke out in a crammed tent. Brilliant." |
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Cynan
29, Oxfam campaigner at Glade festival
"Campaigning at the Glade Festival was awesome. Collecting signatures for the Make Trade Fair campaign was a very enjoyable way to meet and chat to literally thousands of people! It was a total buzz to be an engaged and active part of the friendly festival vibe." |
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Lyon Carter
24, Oxfam campaigner at NASS and trader at Reading
"It was great to see the enthusiasm of the trading division on tour and doing what they do best - making money!" |
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