So, I had secretly been planning this little festi with a few good folk from Cowes at Moorgreen Reservoir Park. On Sunday 28th May 2023 we hosted the first ever ‘Be More Green Festival’.

Background:
To give a bit of background context, when Pete Fellows – Chair of Moorgreen Allotment Society asked me what we could do in this little underused bit of green space, around the same time in 2022, so many ideas came to mind as very little actually happens in Cowes that steps away from the sailing arena. It’s a space mostly used by dog walkers by day and teenagers by night (doing what they do) in residential Cowes not far from the town centre.

Why?
We talk a lot about the Isle of Wight’s UNESCO Biosphere Reserve status – but what does it actually mean? It is about the environment, yes, but it is also about the people and their interaction with it. We wanted whatever we were going to do in this space, something that could reflect this and to breakdown the challenges of understanding what the Biosphere is… and above all, to make it fun!

Team work makes the dream work:
We assembled the ‘A Team’ – Claire Hector (from arc – an environmental consultancy company), Andy Fortune (a local Woodturner), Claire Kennard (manager of IW Market Days CIC), and of course Pete Fellows (Moorgreen Allotment Society and area Regen Project Manager IWC). Each using our resources available to us, we successfully pitched the idea to Cowes Town Council to put on an event which included workshops, music, and traders, all centred around the theme of the Island’s UNESCO Biosphere status and sustainability. 

What is a Biosphere?
UNESCO Biosphere Reserves are places that are chosen for their outstanding natural and cultural character and recognised as places where local communities have an aspiration to live sustainably within their local ecosystems. This is a global designation and our lovely lil Island shows pretty good examples of this. In 2019, the Isle of Wight was awarded Biosphere Reserve status by the international coordinating council of UNESCO’s Man and Biosphere Programme. There are 700 Biosphere Reserves worldwide but only 7 in the UK!

Where:
Nearby assets to Moorgreen Reservoir Park included the Jubilee Woodland (which recently gained funding for the Allotment Society to redevelop to increase accessibility) and Cowes Baptist Church (an Eco Church next to the woodland) to provide some all-essential toilet facilities for the day, including babychanging facilities.

The event:
Together, we commissioned artist-led activities, entertainment, market stalls and more. Activities included drop-in workshops with Kay McCrann “B is for Biosphere” poster making and “Dirty Drawing: In the dirt, with the dirt, about the dirt!”, live music performances in the Jubilee Woodland by Paul Armfield, iWatchWildlife workshops which recorded almost 100 species in the area, Kite Making and Nature Crafts with Wilder Learning, bug-hoovering, Giant Colouring-in, The Pop-Up Natural History Museum with The Common Space and Allotment Tours with over 200 free vegetables and plants given away! We also used it as an opportunity to consult with the public with artist Alice Malia on a Moorgreen Mural Upgrade workshop – made over 10 years ago, the current mural is faded and graffitied. Should we replace, revive, cover-up, or leave as it is? Sun blasted and cracked from heat and nature, the wall offered opportunities and questioned how much we can do to it if nature takes over. But there was a strong appetite to do something to enhance this area.

‘Be More Green’ was a free, mini festival of fun for the whole family, with an estimated 500+ attendees coming to the event. In total, x10 volunteers all contributed to making this event a success as well as the artists delivering activities and x7 traders which included coffee, cakes, gin, wood turning, and local crafts, all selling their wares. 

What did we learn?
Mainchallenges in the lead up to the eventwas the IWC trading permissions – no trading was allowed on Moorgreen Reservoir or had ever taken place. This was largely down to the fact that it was held in a residential area of Cowes with concerns over parking and the term ‘festival’ within the event title was assumed to be more like a ‘rave’ to members of CTC. We didn’t drop ‘festival’ within the title, but we did limit to x10 traders max and keeping the theme ‘green’, we promoted all local transport routes to get to the venue, including nearby Beryl scooter bays.

Our next challenge was £10m insurance requirement from all traders. Unfortunately, this is a statutory requirement from the Council which had recently changed from £5m. This did put a lot of traders off as they were unable to find insurance cover for £10m at a reasonable price. 

On the actual day of the event, we were incredibly lucky to have glorious sunshine, all day. However good our attendance figures were, we still had low numbers of teenagers and young adults attending. 

What’s next then?
Perhaps to engage specifically with this group? Make the area feel safer, reduce anti-social behaviour, clean-up the damage to the seating area and woodland?

There is much to be done to increase the wellbeing of our communities and make them feel safe and welcome as well as building the awareness of the IW Biosphere Reserve status. Is doing more in a bit of green space in Cowes going to solve this issue? I don’t know. Could there be more events programmed, activities, resources and opportunities provided to everyone to gain a sense of pride in place – quite possibly. Watch this space!

To find out more about Be More Green Festival, please click here.  

To find out more about the IW Biosphere, click here.

Images by myself and Julian Winslow