Should we stay or should we go?
Hi all,
The next Celtic Burn seems so far away - but the first planning task is one that needs sorting sooner rather than later: booking the event site.
The big question: Should we stay or go?
Follow-up question: if we go, then where?
Current state of affairs:
We have a provisional booking with the site where the event took place last year. Quick summary of this site (location must remain quiet - so a little description for any new members / those who couldn’t attend) - site is near Dumfries and has a camping field area, several yurts, and a few small cottages with dorm-like accommodation and spaces for activities. There is a central field area up a hill with beautiful views, an indoor space for various activities, a large marquee facilitating group meals, access to catering kitchen, and a little bit of luxury (hot tub and sauna). There are a few showers on site and drinking water is provided, as is electricity (limited supply). We had exclusive usage of the site except for the site owners.
Some issues with the site were discussed at the community meeting at the end of the event. On one hand - no site will ever be perfect and we can mitigate some of the challenges faced last year with better planning now that we know the site properly.
Going to the same site two years in a row doesn’t mean we are bound to it forever either - we can work towards a change in the following year if we can’t move quickly enough this year. However, other aspects can’t be changed, and perhaps there is a better home for the event?
Thoughts?
Important: This AP is a very practical one - not an in-depth discussion of things we did or didn’t like about last year. Emphasising the practical note again - communal effort! - if you feel that we should move, please suggest where to and help with the arrangements! That is always the challenge!
We need to confirm with the site soon either way, so: AP deadline: 8th September
Vic B Sun 4 Sep 2022 12:41PM
I liked the site but can definitely see where Tom is coming from in terms of some people in tents, some people in the cottages and it being a bit spread out and fractured. It gives us less freedom to put things where we want to as we have to work with what's there.
I know we aren't using this to complain about last year but I also think there has to be a conversation with the owner about how present he is while we are there using the facilities to avoid people feeling uncomfortable.
If possible, maybe we ask them to hold it a while longer but make an active effort to find a suitable alternative within a specific timeframe and if we havent agreed on another site then we stick where we are. It feels a bit risky to let this site go when it has so many good aspects to it in favour of the unknown.
Sam Lee Mon 5 Sep 2022 9:11PM
Mmmmm, Can't get past the title riff.........
I'm an easy customer, could go for staying or leaving. Mainly I can't wait to burn in Scotland again and try out all the lessons lerned last year and from over the year.
Thoughts:
The event has a max capacity of 100 people (site specified). My favourite scenario would be a non-advertised (word of mouth), organic number of people attending that could be 100, but could be more or could be less.
Tom is right that it is more a holiday, with someone collecting our waste, lighting the sauna etc. That's all okay but important to know that it is there, and making it's own constrictions to our expression.
Thinking, thinking.....
I'm in favour of a new site... if, Tom's two land contacts in Scotland are a positive bet? If they are uncertain or can't commit then I would stick with last years site.
My thoughts on a move - The processes that we have (with some fine tuning) will make a new venue easier. (much of the hard work done last time).
I would like to imagine our community, when faced with a big decision like this, chooses the more radical, uncertain future with more potentail. A year is a long time, so much happens, things change, we all change. No time to waste, I want to be radical and shape the future and community that I want to be a part of.
I can put my name forward to join a team of land explorers if we do decide to move.
Victoria B Tue 6 Sep 2022 1:10PM
I'm all in favour of some land exploration but keeping in mind Frans comments about the popularity of those dates and the lead in time to secure something.
Do we have any idea of how long we can feasibly keep the current site earmarked with the owners? We can then impose on ourselves a date a month from now to come up with a suitable alternative and make the final decision?
Fran Ellis Tue 6 Sep 2022 1:48PM
Well, on 12th July she asked me to let her know "ASAP one way or another as Easter weekend is usually very popular"
Victoria B Tue 6 Sep 2022 2:08PM
Yeah, so sounds like we need to make a decision now. I say we stay then in that case and try to work on the feedback we got last year to give us more opportunity to focus on the community side of it now we know the lay of the land.
Fran Ellis Tue 6 Sep 2022 12:37PM
I am happy to stay or go, but if we go for Easter again, that’s only 7.5 months away, and whole-site bookings do need to happen quite far in advance, especially when they’re over school breaks. Definitely agree that if we return I would stipulate that we operate the sauna and hot tub ourselves. We could have a wee site liaison crew - no need for the entire burn to listen to long ass speeches. A positive for me about having it easy infra wise is that it gives us more energy to build community, relationships and culture, super necessary if we are to ‘make it’ out there on our own.
Sam Lee Tue 6 Sep 2022 8:11PM
Like the possibility of more people with applying for an event notice like Tom says. 100 fills up so quickly and the waiting list last year was 30ppl deep. Site liaison crew sounds good, especially if there are more people to fit in.
Tom Allen Tue 6 Sep 2022 8:42PM
I think we should contact the site to confirm what would the process be to have more people there. They told John and I when we picked up the lost and found that they can host a certain number of larger events per year by submitting a notice (very much like TEN in UK , which is ten per site per year) and now they trust us they would be happy to talk about that. So let's do it. Let's get prices and sizes etc before we make a decision if possible?
Victoria B Sat 10 Sep 2022 11:16AM
So it looks like this AP is closed in favour of going back to the site to discuss the max number of attendees we can have before the final decision is made.
Closed 10th Sept.
Sam B · Sun 4 Sep 2022 7:50AM
I think we should have at least one more year on this site. It is a beautiful piece of land with multiple areas, and I think we can improve a lot on what we did last year now we know the site. I’m all in favour of another burn there!