Location for CB24
Sam Lee
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AP Closed. Decision:
We will continue with Marthrown of Maybe for another year.
We have booked Marthrwon for 22nd- 29th April
We want a new venue for Celtic Burn. 1st year at Marthrown we had 100ppl, that was fine. This year 150ppl maxed out the sites capacity. Marthrown cost £9,500 for the week.
I would like to grow a little (growth tbc) each year (each year tbc) so that we can keep adding new energy to the community.
It was also said after year 1 that the site is a little too like a holiday resort and that we didn't have to do much grind to survive. Not that we have to, it just makes for a different event.:
There is an interesting discussion to be had about build and participation. If we move to e.g. a field, we will need more infrastructure. My least favourit option is that a small number of people arrive first to "set up the festival for you" and then you come to consume. My favourite scenario is that everyone is there participating and building the infrastructure from the start, collective manifestation = big togetherness.
Also a possible future discussion about platforms (where is organising is easyer) but this thread is not for that.
@Sam B has provisionally booked Marthrown again as a fall back, we are here to search for a better fit.
@Chris Hemmings FB thoughts-
"Things to keep in mind that we'd need:
- Running water
- Electricity
- Ability to actually burn things
- Loud music
- Spaces for tents and numerous campervans
- Nobody perving without a wristband
- Dream scenario would be to have fresh water for swimming & dipping
I'm sure there's others, but you get the idea. Marthrown is mostly great but we're going to outgrow it soon enough so it's best ot find somewhere. Ideally that could take around 200 people and with capacity to grow."
Proposal:
We find a new site and put all our options on Trello, each to their own card. One will end up looking like the clear winner. Decision to be made including land scouted by.... end of July.
The main thing I'm looking for advice on - Is Trello a good place to store options and form groups of support and discussion? Also decision date.
Sam Lee Sat 24 Jun 2023 10:17AM
I'm thinking to have an online meeting soonish to do some work on site finding. Watch this space for details
Emily H Wed 28 Jun 2023 9:30PM
@Sam Lee I know it's hard to get and keep balls rolling in summer but think we need to get a jog on if we want to make things happen for next year!!
Laura Jayne Sat 15 Jul 2023 9:34AM
@Sam Lee a meeting would be good as I imagine sites will be booked already for may bank holiday 2024. So there would be a sense of urgency if we want a new home.
Allan Fri 21 Jul 2023 4:27PM
There is an online meeting scheduled as follows:
Monday 24 July
19:00 UKT - 20:00CET
https://meet.google.com/swm-iopk-swz
This has been scheduled and set up solely by folk on the Celtic Burn Telegram group, with no reference to this thread. Not sure if it's linked on FB or not. I'm posting here as there seems to be a bit of a disconnect between various different communication methods so would be good to get a broad mix of people.
Emily H Sun 23 Jul 2023 11:36AM
@Allan Thank you Allan. I haven't had the headspace to download telegram and connect on there yet and think it's a bit of an issue if things are being developed simultaneously on different platforms :S
Sam Lee Sun 23 Jul 2023 11:42AM
@Emily H Things aren't really being developed on Telegram, it's mainly a chat place for the community (Scottish Burners and friends) to... coordinate local stuff. There is a CB channel but again, its purpose is chit chat and news decemenation. All important stuff will come through here untill decided otherwise, using here.
Emily H Sun 23 Jul 2023 11:52AM
@Sam Lee Well that's good to hear but you can surely appreciate why someone not on the group would feel left out! And being part of that convo will be an important thing, no? Not trying to hate but with many different comms with different people on each one and some people finding some platforms tricky just think some care is needed - if telegram is a new major organisation channel (as chit chat often turns to planning) that's obvi totally cool esp if it works well with local vibes but worth blasting that info / writing it into the organisational structure so people know and can participate
fox of light Sun 23 Jul 2023 5:33PM
@Emily H you are an important part of the convo, please join it: https://t.me/+auh5XT3E_Zs4NWJk
Richard North Sun 23 Jul 2023 2:01PM
Salutations! So many thoughts so here goes;
if we are to find a new site this year I think a) as already said it has to be sharpish and b) it’ll be with a stroke of luck without the luxury of time to decide between a few options. That’s just a hunch given the process. A meeting is necessary and glad it’s going ahead because it’ll give us a barometer for how energised we are as a group to get it done for 2024. Kudos to Sam for provisionally booking 👌 I suggest local working groups to take the helm though, even if it is for 2025! Happy to nominate myself, living in Glasgow, should that be the route.
Site; only in utopia does everyone want to turn up early/together and all pitch in on build and you can add strike in that too. The groups of people who like volunteering their time for that are vital and I don’t think we should gloss over that or force participation. Personally I love to be part of build and strike if I can but also don’t hold anything against people who don’t, it’s part of my gift to the community and I see the gifts others give that aren’t part of build and strike so I see it as part of the circular economy. I would agree on the site owner being cool with the goings on and implore a level of interaction with us that makes us feel safe to do what we want to do respectfully. I suspect the meeting will indicate how much of a driver this is for a new site.
Site continued; For the land and current infrastructure I guess there should be a balance between existing and scope to temporarily expand. Marthrown was a bit glitzy but the amount of infrastructure suited us for getting a feel for running a burn imo. Moving forward though I feel at least toilets & showers (minimum plumbed and potable water), a roundhouse type static structure with power and maybe 1 other static structure that could be malleable as a minimum. The ability to have fire and effigies are non-negotiable imo, makes no sense to not have the, which means the current site is not fit for purpose but again, point b) above, do we have the time to find what we’re looking for? Catch 22
Platforms; I hear the worries of inclusivity of chatting over different platforms but I think it’s a good option to keep things synthesised ironically. Whichever platform we decide to make decisions on should be kept concise and easy to find things and multiple informal discussions left to a site/app designed to do that. Also as we have already grown and moved to telegram to stay connected it seems to have organically stabilised there so don’t see the need to rock that boat. It does however imo need some chat around content/boundaries/usage what ever word you want to use her to differentiate between “Burn” chat and “community” chat. That does link nicely to my last point…
What are we creating here?; Are we building a community? Are we putting on a burn? Both? Now that it’s coming into our 3rd year do we need to start asking those questions or just leave it to evolve organically? There’s chat about growth, are we talking about the actual burn here?, with points for and against but my thoughts are kinda based on Dunbars number of 150 being the max number of people our brains can handle when trying to make genuine connections and proved by the feeling we get when going to CB as apposed to bigger festivals or even Nest. So I would advocate not going over that number in fear of loosing the cornerstone of 1 of our main intentions to converge in this way…with the right balance of creating the environment we want to connect in without being “exclusive” of course #wearenotacult
See ya’ll tomorrow
Tom Allen · Sat 16 Sep 2023 1:43PM
@Emily H heya, great news, i just built a mobile sauna for my event in the lake district last month and it's stored there ready for use. its not super pretty yet, but it's crazy hot in less than 10 minutes and got decent control too. i built it for three people but have plans to extend it to double the width which should hold six/seven. We also have a portable hot tub stored there too which was can take to CB. they both run off electricity to reduce burning emissions. so are subject to a site with good power available. another friend does have a wood fired sauna unit in storage if we end up needed that.