SolarAid at The Big Chill 2009
October 2nd, 2009 by sparky
Our friends at SolarAid wanted to let you what they got up to at this year’s festival…
We are proud to announce that we successfully charged 1,106 mobile phones over three days. This was all powered purely by the Herefordshire sunshine! We had solar-powered batteries available as back-up, but these were not required at any point due to the excellent quality of sunshine over the weekend!
We raised £4,391.57 from phone charging plus £80 in cash donations collected by the SolarAid Buskers’ Stage.
Other things we did at Eastnor over the weekend…
1. We said hello to a LOT of people!
We met thousands of friendly Big Chillers – some of whom want to get involved with SolarAid in the future – either through volunteering, offering free services, introducing us to their friends and forming meaningful business partnerships. Others simply just want to help us spread the word about solar energy and how it can combat poverty and fight climate change. They’re certainly a nice old bunch, them Chillers.
2. We dressed up like a solar fool!
Our volunteers fought over who got to wear our amazingly bright ‘solar suit’, a creation specially designed as part of a competition we ran. A lovely chap called James – a recent graduate from Royal College of Art – designed and made the winning costume. It was made using recycled and non-biodegradable fabrics and was worn by our team to raise awareness about what SolarAid was doing at Big Chill.
3. We busked for SolarAid!
The SolarAid Buskers’ Stage was a huge success, drawing large crowds up onto the beautiful hill in the Enchanted Garden. We had a host of fantastic artists performing from beatboxers to folk acts and everything in between! All one hundred percent solar-powered music.
4. We cooked some sunny food!
We showed that not only can you charge mobile phones and power music using the sun but you can also cook. Our solar cooking specialist, Phil, was busy concocting a number of tasty dishes in the sunshine using his jaw-droppingly clever solar cooker. This kept our hungry volunteers very happy.
In our Sun Hut we also had a solar education display and photo exhibition, we ran competitions and even offered a quiet chill out zone, with cosy beanbags and cushions, for those Big Chillers who found that steep hill up to Enchanted Garden just too much.
Since the festival, we’ve enjoyed a 50% increase of online donations so the impact is clear.
A huge thank you to all at The Big Chill for making this year’s festival such a successful and sunny one for SolarAid. Roll on 2010!
All photos © Steven Woodward.
