Sunrise Celebration 2009

Doing the festival circuit with children is always a challenge, but what if you or your child has a disability? Our correspondent Gail and her son Jack are unfazed festival regulars. Here’s Gail’s review of Sunrise.

cyber kids, Sunrise 2009.

Sunrise blessed us with a lovely sunny weekend. I travelled down with my son, who has learning disabilities and hearing loss, and my friend Teresa in the campervan. On arriving i decided it would make life easier to camp in the disabled feild with my son as carrying an eight year old  back across several feilds late at night was not my idea of fun.

The GAMA field welcomed us with open arms, helped us pitch up and even  made us a nice cup of tea. We quickly made friends with the GAMA crew thanks to my son befriending someone else’s child.

I didn’t get to see any bands, but Teresa had a great time in the evenings running from tent to tent to see who was playing, and I managed to hear a ska band one night from babysitting in the camper.

During the day my son was granted a free pass to the bouncy castle when the owner saw he was disabled, which was greatly appreciated as Jack will go on a castle for three minutes, get bored, wander off then want to go back on again -saved me a fortune!

We watched the pillow fight which looked loads of fun and we had a look at the kids area but it was geared up for much younger kids. Jack loved the fairground type attractions, and the highlight of the festival was the late night firejugglers who performed in formation – very impressive and just goes to show there is so much talent out there.

The festival was relaxed and friendly and very very clean. It was uncrowded and we were able to move from one end of the feild to the other easily. There was an excellent variety of stalls, but the grocery shop that had cheese only sold it in huge £4 slabs. As  hadn’t quite got the hang of the operating of the gas fridge, I gave it a miss. Typically I sussed out how to work the fridge when I got home.

Jack enjoyed the dressing up and I’d bought his Cyberman costume which was a big hit. All Jack’s needs were met at the festival and I had a nice time, but being a single mum, it did mean I missed out on a lot of the grown-up activities later at night – not the fault of the festival, just saying I could only see the festie from a mum’s point of view.

The compost loos were great, but as luck would have it, I had my period, so some water and a sannie bin would have been welcomed. I am sure I was not the only female at the festival who was wondering what to do with certain non-compostable items. Also, my son wears pull-ups at night and they don’t make eco friendly ones for eight year olds, so they had to go in the landfill too.

All in all it was a nice festival which we all enjoyed. We have been welcomed into the GAMA area for the Big Green Gathering too.

You can see more of Gail’s Sunrise Celebration photos here.