This week it's the turn of the delightful James Drury, General Manager of the Festival Awards to share all things camping with us. Festival Awards have really got behind the Love Your Tent campaign and have been fully supporting us through social media and their website.
Thanks Guys!
1. Do you love your tent and what is it?
Yes! I’ve had the same black two-man tent for 5 years now. It’s a bit worse for wear but I wouldn’t camp at a festival without it. It’s kept some of the worst of the British weather off me.
2. Where is your favourite camping spot and why?
Anywhere which is close enough to the action to not have to walk too long, but far enough away to be able to get some sleep
3. What festivals are we most likely to spot you at over the summer?
I’ll be at The Great Escape, Kendal Calling, V Festival, and possibly some others...
4. Would it surprise you to know that 1 in 5 people leave their tent behind after each festival?
Yes. It always surprises me that people leave their tents at a festival, and walking through the site on the morning after the festival has ended I think it’s sad to see so many abandoned. But I never knew it was such a large proportion of people.
5. Why do you think people leave their tent and camping equipment?
It seems to me that it’s a combination of laziness and the fact that tents are so cheap that it doesn’t seem a big waste of money to leave it behind.
6. What’s your funniest camping story?
I once spent an hour trying to find my tent only to realise I was in the wrong camping area.
7. What are your top three tracks to listen to around the campfire?
Someone’s Second Kiss by RJD2
The First Time Ever I saw Your Face by Joanna Law To Build A Home by The Cinematic Orchestra
8. Any top camping tips?
Take earplugs - essential for getting some sleep at a festival
9. Knowing the festival scene as you do has the problem of abandoned tents been a recent phenomenon or has it always happened?
It seems to me that it's got significantly worse in the last few years. I think that’s mainly down to the fact that it’s cheaper to get a tent now.
10. Do some festivals suffer more than others with campfield waste?
I’m not sure - the larger festivals, by the very fact that they are larger, must have more to clean up - but I don’t know if some have more of a problem than others.
11. What do you think can be done to change people’s behaviour and to value their possessions and the environment more?
Festivals are a great forum for education - there’s already a great amount of work which is done around environmental and charity programmes, so this power could be used to help people understand the environmental damage done by leaving tents on site. Some people mistakenly think that if they leave their tent it will be collected and given to charity, but they have to go in landfill, which damages the environment. It’s important that they realise this. It would also help if tents weren’t so cheap.
12. Is there anything festivals can be doing more of to make it easy for punters to take everything home with them?
More education, through schemes such as Love Your Tent is really important, which is why we at Festival Awards are getting behind the campaign.
13. What do you think of the first cross-festival waste campaign aimed at campers, Love Your Tent?
I think it’s a great idea. The more people understand the damage that leaving a tent behind does, the better for all of us.
James Drury is General Manager of Festival Awards Ltd, producers of the UK Festival Awards, UK Festival Conference and the European Festival Awards. The awards events and conference bring together the festival industry to share information and celebrate the achievements of the world’s foremost festival industries. In 2012 over a million votes were cast for the awards, with fans making their feelings known about more than 700 festivals.
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