Glastonbury Festival 2016..The Wood, Glade,Avalon and the Park

What can I say the experience of Glastonbury is all consuming. It gets you in ways you will never expect. Retreating to your tent, van or tipi will not be an escape from  its pulse my friend, once you have been wrist banded into the fellowship of Avalon you too become a  willing worker in the hive of the Avalonian Queen Bee. Oh.. and there's no escape until the following Happy Monday.

For me I will keep saying oh it's work da de da de da. Phew..a bit of an understatement Michelle! Huh! The logistics are one thing the gathering of stuff another, then finding willing Glastafarians,

making, making, making the rain the mud the crowd, the volume. It is a sensory overload.

 A full body and mind stretch and soul work out.. An extreme sport..But. I love it, I love it's creative balls and I really love the people who make it and turn up year on year out whatever the weather and get it done..on time and with bells on.  How many times has one of my young crew said wow and thanks that was the most amazing weekend of my life...well when you get to dance on stage with Iggy Pop or hold the hand of Beth Ditto or this year  get to stand on the Pyramid Stage all be it without the  big crowd...then I suppose it is.

All credit to the farmer and his family tho really.

This year we worked a few fields and also The Wood a new area next to the John Peel Stage. Such a cool place with a fire pit and cute pond. Lush and green with Cherry, Ash  and beautiful Willows. All in all we installed 8 willow giants.. a Snake and two Badger Peeps in the Wood;

two Foxes in a Avalon; a pair of Spikey Dancers in Glade

and the winged Boy  for the BBC Park Set.

In the wood we also created  a series of tunnels and arches giving the walkways from the central fire pit a bit of a rabbit hole feel. For the entrances to the Peel Stage we stripped mature willows to create white Arches which where transformed by night with colourful uplighting.

At the Spike we made another rabbit holey tunnel and on the BBC stage we added some small animals. That's two lorry loads a few trailer fulls and a lot of hard work from a team who I am very grateful to. Big thanks to all of them. Big thanks too to The Willowbank and Steve Pickup, to West Wales Willows, to Blaencwm Holiday Cottages and Musgrove Willows oh and St Dogmaels Allotments  oh and me too for supplying some Stuff which was fabulous to work with. Really it is kind of nuts where a bit of basket making using some beautiful Black Maul grown by Reg Hector can lead you....it isn't for everyone but I think some of my team will be back to rebuild the Avalon Hive next year and I hope to be among them