This year we raised a staggering £98,654, along with vital aid and awareness for numerous charities across the globe, and closer to home.
Local engagement, charity, education and raising awareness is a large part of the Boomtown ethos, achieved through £2 ticket donations, guest list donations, stewarding partnerships, onsite installations such as a hidden photo booth in the intricate set designs, chill out spaces where people can create their own ‘Love Specs’ and a platform for awareness raising talks at the new Speakers’ Corner talks tent and salvage operations.
The new Speakers’ Corner welcomed a huge range of talks including a drug awareness message from Wendy Teasdil, the mother of Ellie Rowe; Maisie Williams discussing the growing refugee crisis and formal education; Jess Thom talking about living with Tourettes, as well as The White Ribbon Campaign launching their Safe Event Guide promoting awareness of sexual harassment and assault of women at events.
BoomTown Fair in Hampshire, one of the UK’s biggest and brightest festivals, is leading the way with staff and volunteer training, information on how festival goers and others can help alleviate the problem and hopefully cut down on incidents.’ Dave Boardman – White Ribbon Campaign
Local Support:
We matched the guestlist donations to create a substantial £10,000 to be split between the parishes bordering the festival site for investment in projects to benefit their communities.
Hampshire Air Ambulance have been donated £7,255 through the ongoing stewarding partnership.
In the months leading up to the event the BoomTown KidzTown team held free family carnival workshops at the Discovery Centre for Winchester families alongside local charities Naomi House and Blue Apple theatre, where the children get to showcase their costumes and skills at the festivals’ Sunday KidzTown carnival.
National and International charity support:
£46,380 was raised for Oxfam through the stewarding partnership, with a further £15,000 raised through their district themed Oxfam Shop, located in Mayfair Avenue. The multi-charity beneficiary stewarding organisation, My Cause accrued £5,165 for a range of UK based and international charities.
Refugees help:
● A group of local community volunteers from Twyford, collected 160 sleeping bags, 85 tents, 58 roll mats, 13 self-inflating mats, 17 rugs/blankets, plus quantities of miscellaneous clothing, shoes and wellies, canned food, pots and pans, lamps, pumps and chairs – all of which on the way to L’Auberge des Migrants in the Calais Jungle.
● Love Support Unite , raised £2,410.
● Help Refugees, raised £500 through their festival-wear stall, selling unsuitable clothes that had been donated to their warehouse in Calais.
● Refugee Community Kitchen, , raised £280.
● Festival Waste Reclamation and Distribution collected tents, sleeping bags, camping chairs, sleeping mats and clothes for Syria with the Portsmouth based Don’t Hate, Donate charity https://www.facebook.com/DontHateDonate/.
Global:
● TEMWA Charity ran the festival’s onsite Lost and Found for which BoomTown donated £5,000 towards the charity and a further £500 was raised through grateful festival goers giving donations for being reunited with their belongings!
● The build crew from the South American styled area, Barrio Loco, raised £1,640 for Alianza Arkana , a ground-breaking grassroots project working with indigenous communities in the Amazon in Peru whose way of life is under threat from increasing development and industrialisation.
Environmental:
72,000kg of Co2 emissions were accounted for through travel carbon offsetting ticket donations of £3,600 to Energy Revolution.
Tent-cil campaign – Boomtown teamed up with Love Your Tent to bring a new initiative for the festival this year, with the idea of giving cheap ‘disposable’ tents more sentimental value to encourage people to take responsibility for their belongings and take them home.
Purple Community Fund, raised £489 selling handbags, belts and jewellery made from ring pulls. In addition to the funds they also collected 5kg of ring pulls from the festival which on top of helping the clear up campaign.
Thank you to everyone who got involved, donated their time, skills or attention to help raised funds, goods or awareness.
Boomtown Fair takes place between 10 – 13 August next year!
