Wilderness 'Event Traffic Signals'

Wed 14 Aug 2019, 15:40

Like you Nikki I also emailed Charlotte, and received  a positive response from her also with the offer of meeting up with her when she returns from a work trip in the next few weeks.

In my email to Charlotte and her team I offered congratulations on yet another great Wilderness festival, I believe in giving credit where credit is due, as there is too much negativity in this world already, especially  as it was all in all a superb weekend and not just for the privileged few.

But I also offered constructive criticism on some of the concerns of the disruption that putting on a festival such as this in Charlbury brings, and on how I thought things could be improved with the suggestion of having all build up and take down traffic restricted to the south hill (Finstock hill ) entrance which would be a major problem solved for the heavy traffic passing Wellington cottages on Fiveways, also that the signs keeping traffic from coming into the centre be installed earlier and be more blunt in what they say as the present ones did have little effect it seems judging by the lorries through the town centre.

I also agreed that the 2am shut off point early Monday morning was not really acceptable for the town despite the fact that the Wilderness organiser cannot be held responsible for which way the wind happens to be blowing at anytime during the festival. I have since been told from other sources that the music was supposedly coming from the workers aftershow party, perhaps the relocation of this party could be better positioned in the future so that it has as little disruption to the locals as possible as I certainly don’t begrudge them of a celebration of their own, after all they are the ones who spent their weekend making sure that all the festival attendees have had the best possible time.

I also approached the concerns of some locals saying that it appears the festival organisers do very little in the way of donations to the local community, I did acknowledged the point that “Rosy” are listed on their website and that ticket purchasers are able to make a “voluntary” donation but also said that this wouldn’t wash with the town, I also pointed out that we do know that the festival organisers do donate tickets both to the street fair and community centre so that they can auction them off to raise much needed funds and whilst these are much appreciated I also pointed out and without wanting to sound rude that a few tickets donated cost you guys from the festival pittance.

I know that the festival is run to make a profit for its investors, it is a business and why shouldn’t it we all have to make a living, but then asked the question, other than the free tickets mentioned above does Wilderness donate financially to any local charity or organisation and if so how much ? and asked them not to be proud shout about it let the community know.

If they do not then why not ? as it would go a long way to help sooth some tensions between locals and the organiser for all the disruption Charlbury endures, especially if they knew that apart from the pubs and food outlets in the town that benefit from the festival being here that also the community groups and charities would also benefit as well.

With that in mind I made the suggestion that a “Charlbury Wilderness Community Bursary” be set up and that a set amount (maybe of £1.00) from every ticket sold be put into the pot so that the any local charity, group or organisation in Charlbury or even surrounding villages for that matter that are effected whilst Wilderness Festival is being set up, run and dismantled, could then apply for a grant to help their said group surely it would be a win win situation.

On this Charlotte responded with the following…

“I think you make an interesting point when it comes to local charity support. I feel passionate about using Wilderness as a platform to promote charities and as a result have some hugely positive results. Within the range of charities we choose to support there are a few local ones but I agree it’s probably time to review what they are and how the donations are reaching them and what else we can do as a festival to support the local community and offer our thanks for everything that you give to us.”

Now this does sound encouraging and I look forward to hearing of any changes relating to this matter and any other points that have been brought up and will keep you posted on any developments I hear of.