Kicking Back from Covid With Environmentally Friendly Festival Fun

Businesses in Cambridgeshire have declared it’s time to kick back from Covid and come together for a Summer festival of fun.

They’ve come together to hold an Eco-Festival in the countryside just outside Ely, on the weekend of 18th – 20th June.

The event will be one of the first large scale gatherings in the East of England following the majority of coronavirus restrictions being lifted on May 17th.

Hundreds of people are expected to attend, both locals and tourists, as demand for tickets has already been high.

Organiser Claire Murray, who runs the Mad Hatter’s campsite, which will be the venue, said, “We’ve all been starved of human contact and fun for so long. This is the moment to mark the return to normal life with family, friends, and the rest of society.

‘I can’t wait to see people smiling and enjoying themselves again. I’m particularly looking forward to the bands, and doing some dancing!”

The event is designed to appeal to people of all ages, so no one is excluded from the celebration of finally beating Covid.

It features live bands, building a giant bug hotel, delicious vegan food cooking demonstrations, a kids’ disco, outdoor cinema, a storyteller, a magician, a Mad Hatter’s tea party, a range of stalls, and beware of your valuables… a pickpocket! (But don’t worry, he gives his ill gotten gains back.)

The government has said it wants the UK to have a “summer of fun” following the bleak days of the pandemic.

“I’m very much up for that,” Claire says, “And I know so many others are as well. It’s time to return to normal and enjoy life.”

A key feature of the Eco-Festival is that it’s designed to offer environmentally friendly entertainments and activities, with a range of eco-alternatives for every lifestyle.

For example, it will showcase how to repair clothes and repurpose electrical items, instead of throwing them away, and use products such as beeswax wraps instead of cling film around the home.

Florists Martha Waterhouse and Sharon Hellyer are exhibiting at the festival. Both grow their flowers, including dahlias, zinnias, cornflowers, in an environmentally friendly way just outside Ely.

They want to demonstrate how people can have beautiful flowers about the house without the need for mass-production and shipping from overseas.

“The festival is a great opportunity to meet like-minded people, and restart our businesses,” Martha says.

“Everything has been so quiet during coronavirus, with no events like weddings, and this offers a great chance to get going again. It will also be wonderful to socialise with people once more. We have really missed that.”

Claire adds, “As well as being one big party, we want to make people think about how they can live more environmentally friendly lives in future. It’s not as hard as some believe, and could be an eye opener for many. The festival is all part of building a better future after coronavirus.’

The event will also raise money for a range of charities attending the festival, along with the Addenbrooke’s Hospital Trust, in recognition of the work of the NHS during the coronavirus pandemic.

The festival will follow all current coronavirus precautions. If any new Covid restrictions are imposed, and the festival has to be postponed, it will be held next year with all tickets carried over.

For more information, email Claire on clairemurray50@gmail.com or call 01353 676233.

Press release from Mad Hatters Campsite