Camping, New Wine and more!

The last time I went camping I was about 15 years of age, so to decide to try camping at the age of 58, could be classed as pure madness!!!!

For the second adventure in my Sabbatical, there was some camping involved!!!

I have prepared for this over several months, getting as much advice as I could, and I am especially grateful to my sister and her family for all their advice.

On Saturday 30 July, I packed the car with all the equipment I thought I might need!!!!

It was a good job I was travelling alone as there was no room for anyone else!!

On Sunday 31 July I left my house at 8:15am to commence my journey to Shepton Mallet for the New Wine Christian Festival. I met with my friend Moya at Tescos in Shepton Mallet and then we made our  way to the Bath and Somerset showground, which would be our home for the next 7 days.

On arrival the first challenge was to erect the tents, thankfully it was dry!!!! We also recruited the help of a couple of folk from Holland who helped us. The cars were then unpacked, and parked up for the week. ( That was the first problem, we parked the cars but never took note of where we parked the cars!!!!! And they were a mile away from where our tents were pitched).

There was a great time of worship that evening, and there was an air of anticipation. There were 13.000 people on the camp site.

Monday dawned bright and fair, but within an hour the rain started and it didn't stop for the next 24 hours!!!!! Everywhere was extremely wet and muddy, but people kept their spirits up and continued to participate in all the activities.

On Tuesday morning I was very grateful that I woke up dry and comfortable!!!!

There were many activities on site including an Art Tent, it was good to visit this tent and meet up with my friend Deborah from Milton Keynes who was leading a group on Bible Art Journaling. There were quite a few different arts that people could participate in, including making a model out of pebbles.

Throughout the week there were opportunities to listen to many different speakers. One of these being Danielle Strickland a Salvation Army Officer from Canada who at the moment is serving in Los Angeles. She was like a breath of fresh air, and I found what she had to say helpful and meaningful. On my next post I will share some of her thoughts in the form of some Journalling I did throughout the week.

There was a market place which was full of bookshops, exhibitions, and art work, this was a good place to visit when it rained!!!

My friend Moya even had a go on the Massage chair, I love her expression of surprise in this photo!!!!

Wednesday was a day free from meetings and seminars, there was opportunity to spend time on site or visit a local nearby town. I decided that I really needed to go and find my car, it took a bit of time but I am glad to report that I was successful!!! On my way back to the tent I took some photos of some of the activities.

Each field on site has a camp host, ours was Patti and she was absolutely brilliant, she even arranged a get together for our field on Wednesday afternoon, and provided refreshments for us all!!!! Patti is in the middle of this photo.

Throughout the week there were worship sessions, Bible Studies, seminars and much more!!! There were three main venues, the largest being the Arena, then there was Hungry and Impact.

It was an amazing experience worshipping with 4,000 people in the Arena. Although I have to say the music was VERY loud and at times repetitive. 

Thankfully for me there were also times of quietness and peace although not many and I would have appreciated more!!

The views from the campsite were amazing.

Would I do it again? I'm not sure, but one thing is for certain I would certainly get a bigger tent if I do!

It really was an amazing experience, and I know I benefited from the time I spent there.

I am thankful to God for all I have experienced and how this will impact my life in the future.