Blogger: Steve Field, Membership Development Manager
The RSPB Eastern England membership team visits all manner of public events over the summer as we spread the word about the fine work of the RSPB, but the event I was most looking forward to attending this summer was the Cambridge folk festival, which took place last week at Cherry Hinton hall near Cambridge. I have to say the weekend exceeded my expectations.
More than 10,000 music fans danced and sang along to some fantastic artists over four days such as Newton Faulkner, Laura Marling and the legendary Mary Chapin Carpenter, and with the weather being extremely kind the atmosphere was superb with just about everyone wearing a huge smile!
The organisers looked after us by putting the RSPB stand in full view of Main Stage 2 which meant that when we were not busy chatting to people about birds and wildlife (which was most of the time) we were able to enjoy some great bands. Our membership development officer Nikki Thurston decided to decorate our stand in a colourful manner befitting the festival. In addition to the guys working on the stand, Lyndsey Symonds, our membership administrator worked the crowd dressed as a robin, encouraging people to sign our Stepping up for Nature campaign leaflets. This went down extremely well as every person that signs the campaign leaflet gets free wildflower seeds.
However, what was most pleasing about the weekend was the number of people who we spoke to who not only had solid knowledge of the challenges facing wildlife in the UK and elsewhere, but who really wanted to make a difference and ensure that future generations can enjoy the kind of experiences they have enjoyed. So many people thanked us for the work that the RSPB is doing that it reinforced for me, why I am so proud to work for such an important and inspirational organisation.
All in all, we enjoyed some fine weather, some great music and the folk festival crowd really inspired me with their passion for our work – and we had lots of people join the RSPB too! This was a great weekend and I’m already looking forward to 2012!
Watch out for other sightings of our gang and where you can see them this summer on our Facebook page www.facebook.com/rspbintheeast/