Let’s make The Geeknbury Festival 2008 happen!!
On the 24th to the 27th of July I will be in a field near Hambledon in Surrey whether you guys want to join in or not.
I will most likely have a T-shirt on saying ‘Geeknbury 2008’ and although I don’t know exactly how many people are required to make a festival, I will be proudly stating that this is the first ever Geeknbury.. and history will note it so.
The idea for a Geeknbury is a few years old in my mind but up until a few weeks ago I had no idea how to make it happen. It was already the summer when I had decided to actually do something and bumping into Rachel Clarke and then being introduced to Rebecca Caroe turned the idea into a possibility.
Rebecca already has a private party/festival (Vann) she puts on every year and was happy to have Geeknbury as a bolt on to her event. All we need to make this happen is find bands, activities, events, inspiration and most importantly of all Geeks!
The existing festival runs from Saturday till Sunday but the Geeknbury Geeks can arrive on Thursday night and have a little extra time to strum guitars, tweet around the camp fire and burn marshmallows.
So I guess this is a rallying cry for all those people who are really interested in being a part of Geeknbury 2008 to put their hands up and minds together so we can make this happen.
It is a family (and geek) friendly festival with limited 2 meg wifi but openings for all imaginations to run riot and get creative.
Tickets are £50 for adults and £20 for all kids over 4 years old.
For this you get entry for the festival, camping, access to all the music amenities and activities and a certain amount of food and beer (Saturday night dinner, beer/cider/soft drinks and Sunday morning bacon butties plus tea and coffee.) Not to mention the good times, connections made and great memories to take away.
(There are four staff/helper positions available that will pay £50 and all the above for free.)
If you look at the Wiki at http://geeknbury.pbwiki.com/ you will see a more up to date progress list..
But In A nut.. what we have sorted so far:
Large field – 6 acres
Loos – 5 portable
Tents – 2 – one large 40 foot by 20 foot and one 20×20 foot
Food & Beer – provided for Saturday night dinner, beer/cider/soft drinks and Sunday morning bacon butties, Coffee and tea (all covered by paid for ticket holders)
Electricity – a wired spur from the main house
Hot tubs – 2 x 8 person (one for kids, one for adults) Bring your swimmers!
Wifi – is available but currently low, probably about 2 mb
Fire pitEntertainment
Making water rockets from empty plastic bottles (they fire 60 foot into the air!)
Team games – non-stop cricket, rounders, football
Garden tours – Gertrude Jeykll water garden
Band(s) for Saturday night. Main evening act (jazz/blues/soul review with singer Gwyn Allen fronting), and I think main afternoon act, Isadore & Clay (folk rock) & a classical octet.
Yoga
Tai Chi
Casper the Rocket Man (with two helicopters.)
a Monster truck that runs on rocket fuel.
Childrens activities eg play, mask making.
..and here are some ideas for things we may need:
Films, a projector and screen
More music/bands and an open mic stage perhaps?
More accessible power to charge laptops and mobiles (Solar power?)
Better wifi and a mobile booster aerial
A Silent Disco
Massage
Meditation
..and so on..
So can you help? If you have any ideas for features, shows, acts or classes leave a comment below or DM me on Twitter
Colin Rogal is the Music Coordinator but is abroad filming a documentary till the 7th of July so please bat all ideas and suggestions in my direction. (leave a comment below)
Tickets can be purchased by sending your request with an address via paypal to.. rebecca@caroe.com
..You can also guarantee yourself tickets by making a cheque out for the full amount payable to ‘Vann Summer Fest‘ and sending it to:
Rebecca Caroe
7 Vicarage Close
Waterbeach
Camebridge
CB25 9QG
So if you can help out in any way, be it with the organising, funding, sponsorship, performing, teaching or supplying of anything that can be put to good festival use.. please don’t hesitate to get in touch!
(p.s Big thanks to Derek Mantle for making a logo for the festival at super short notice.)
I’m sorry I can’t be there, but I’d love to buy a t-shirt! Will they be made available? I’m needing to buy some white geeky t-shirts (as is my want) and this would be perfect. 🙂
G
sadly, I’m several thousand miles away Christian. But if you would set up some sort of “chip in” widget, I’d be more than happy to donate any fundage I could to help out with food and whatnot.
Hi Gareth, I will get some tshirts sorted and let you know.. 🙂
And Geoff, that’s great, really kind of you. The festival is currently running at a loss so any support or sponsorship is much appreciated, Thankyou! Any extra monies get carried over to next year.
As you see we have now added a chipin widget to make this easy. 🙂
Cheers!
Christian
Hey, it’s a UDP festival.
UDP is primarily a male communication method wherein the originator (broadcaster) sends a message into the ether, such as “I’m going to the bar”. The implication is that “I’ll be at the bar and you can join if you like, and if you don’t, no bother”. This starkly contrasts the more formal TCP gatherings that require RSP protocol and have a much heavier processing overhead.
Geeknbury Festival looks like a fantastic event!, Wish I could be there, but sadly spend most of my time in San Francisco and not London! Let me know if there is anything to be done to help get your event more visibility.
T shirts for purchase please. cant make it being in Kosovo but the shirt would be a half way house. Price not an issue (silly thing to write but I do mean well!)
Good Luck and have fun!
DFBMBE
where’s the nearest train station?
Nearest train is Witley (2 miles away) on direct line from Waterloo to Portsmouth.. 55 mins from Waterloo
do i get a lift from the train station? ;o)
for sure.. just give a rough eta so someone can remain sober.. 🙂
Chipped in. Have a great weekend, wish I could have been there.
Peter, that’s fantastic, Thank you so much. At the moment the costs outweigh the ticket sales but the impact is lessened somewhat by the kind donations from people like yourself..
Geeknbury is just an experiment this year, made possible by Rebecca Caroe and people like her.
Who knows what the future holds. 🙂
Thank You.
I think TedC wins the geekiest comment prize! 🙂 lol. nice!
once again i find out about these things too late. i’m sure it was a blast and would love to see something like this in the states.
cant wait for the post geeknbury brief…or have i missed that as well?
😀
Sounds fun – wish I’d known! I love the T shirt design too.
Next year can it turn up on Upcoming (events near London) about a month before? 🙂
Genius idea- can i play next year?????
Hey – Loved the Geekenbury – want a test account on phreadz :P.
Damm, why didnt I find this sooner, when is the next one IM THERE
Hi Gordon,
Perhaps next year.. things have been talked about.. 🙂