The Green Gathering, formerly known as the Big Green Gathering is a

festival A festival is an event celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, Melā, mela, or Muslim holidays, eid. A ...

with an environmental and social justice focus, including workshops and talks on permaculture, politics, ecology and crafts, as well as art, live music and spoken word performances. The first Big Green Gathering was held in 1994 and the festival is currently held in

Chepstow Chepstow () is a town and community in Monmouthshire, Wales, adjoining the border with Gloucestershire, England. It is located on the tidal River Wye, about above its confluence with the River Severn, and adjoining the western end of the ...

Monmouthshire Monmouthshire ( ; ) is a Principal areas of Wales, county in the South East Wales, south east of Wales. It borders Powys to the north; the English counties of Herefordshire and Gloucestershire to the north and east; the Severn Estuary to the s ...

although it has previously been held in various locations in

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

and

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated to Wilts) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It borders Gloucestershire to the north, Oxfordshire to the north-east, Berkshire to the east, Hampshire to the south-east, Dorset to the south, and Somerset to ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

History

The event grew from the Green Fields area of the

Glastonbury Festival The Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts (commonly referred to as simply Glastonbury Festival, known colloquially as Glasto) is a five-day festival of contemporary performing arts held near Pilton, Somerset, England, in most su ...

. And in their turn, the Green Fields at Glastonbury Festival had evolved from an earlier series of Green Gatherings held from the late 1970s until 1983 at two Somerset venues, some being formally associated with the Ecology Party, as the UK Green Party was then named. The first Big Green Gathering was held in 1994 at Watchfield, north east of

Swindon Swindon () is a town in Wiltshire, England. At the time of the 2021 Census the population of the built-up area was 183,638, making it the largest settlement in the county. Located at the northeastern edge of the South West England region, Swi ...

. In 1995, the event moved to a site at Lower Pertwood Farm, about 10 miles (16 km) south of

Warminster Warminster () is a historic market town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in south-west Wiltshire, England, on the western edge of Salisbury Plain. The parish had a population of 18,173 in 2021. The name ''Warminster'' occurs first i ...

, in

, and the event was repeated at that site in 1996, 1997, 1998 and 2000. The next Green Gathering took place in 2002 at Winchester Farm on the

Somerset Levels The Somerset Levels are a coastal plain and wetland area of Somerset, England, running south from the Mendips to the Blackdown Hills. The Somerset Levels have an area of about and are bisected by the Polden Hills; the areas to the south ...

in Cheddar. In 2003, 2005, 2006 and 2007 the BGG was held at Fernhill Farm, a 160-acre (65 hectare) site which can hold up to 20,000 visitors, in the

Mendip Hills The Mendip Hills (commonly called the Mendips) is a range of limestone hills to the south of Bristol and Bath, Somerset, Bath in Somerset, England. Running from Weston-super-Mare and the Bristol Channel in the west to the River Frome, Somerset ...

. No festival was held in 2008. In 2009 the festival was scheduled to return to Fernhill Farm, 29 July to 2 August. Mendip council granted a licence at the end of June. According to The Guardian: "On 23 July, the organisers were suddenly confronted with a list of demands that they believed they had already met". Two days before it was due to open, the organisers surrendered their licence to hold the event, following the threat of injunction proceedings in the High Court by Mendip District Council, supported by Avon and Somerset Police. The Guardian stated: "Festival directors accused the police of taking a politically motivated decision to shut down the festival..." and quoted the police as saying "The organisers voluntarily surrendered their licence... therefore it was their decision to cancel, not ours." The Guardian article further stated "The Big Green Gathering ... has been running in its present form since 1994 without complaints about public safety or crime". Organisers were able to arrange ticket swaps but not refunds for all ticket holders. The event re-launched as 'The Green Gathering' in 2011 at Piercefield Park, near Chepstow in the Wye Valley where it has run annually since. At the UK Festival Awards 2017, The Green Gathering was presented with the top UK accolade for green events – The Greener Festival Award, for outstanding commitment to reducing its environmental impact and creating positive social impact. Further national and international awards followed in 2018 and 2019.

Events

The Green Gathering is described by its organisers as being "A festival beyond hedonism - a place to party, then wake up the next morning and put the world to rights with your new mates from the night before." In 2015, an eFestivals Review described The Green Gathering as "An inspiring modern festival with a refreshing old school edge". Many environmental and social justice groups such as

Greenpeace Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning network, founded in Canada in 1971 by a group of Environmental movement, environmental activists. Greenpeace states its goal is to "ensure the ability of the Earth to nurture life in all its biod ...

, Green and Black Cross (GBC was founded in November 2010 to provide legal support for protests against the government’s wave of massive spending cuts.), Refugee Community Kitchen and Reclaim The Power (Reclaim the Power is a UK based direct action network fighting for social, environmental and economic justice.) have had a presence at the festival. The Gathering has pioneered renewable energy with every Gathering being powered by wind, sun and people. Between 2011 and 2019, Green MEP and economist

Molly Scott Cato Sarah Margaret "Molly" Scott Cato (born 21 May 1963) is a British Green Party of England and Wales, Green politician, economist and activist. She served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for South West England (European Parliament c ...

, Baronness Jenny Jones, Green Party leader

Natalie Bennett Natalie Louise Bennett, Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (born 10 February 1966), is an Australian-British politician and journalist who was the leader of the Green Party of England and Wales from 2012 to 2016. Bennett was given a peerage in ...

and Green MP

Caroline Lucas Caroline Patricia Lucas (born 9 December 1960) is a British politician who was the leader of the Green Party of England and Wales from 2003 to 2006, 2007 to 2012, and 2016 to 2018. She was Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parli ...

shared the bill in the festival's Speakers' Forum with radical activist Ewa Jasiewicz, Guardian journalist Rob Evans, Radical Routes co-operators, anti-GM campaigner Hector Christie and Simon Fairlie, editor of The Land magazine - amongst many others. On the festival site there are several distinct areas including: *Permaculture Zone *Crafts Area *Campaigns Field *Low Impact Village *Healing Field *Ethical Markets *Assisted Camping *An extensive Kids Area Although The Green Gathering is not primarily a music festival, live music is performed across several small stages and venues. Past performers have included 3 Daft Monkeys, Banco de Gaia, Nik Turner, Martha Tilston, Radical Dance Faction, Seize The Day and

Transglobal Underground Transglobal Underground (sometimes written as Trans-Global Underground) is an English electro-world music group, specializing in a fusion of Western culture#Music, western, Music of Asia, Asian and Music of Africa, African music styles (someti ...

References

External links

Green Gathering official website
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