Feedback 2008

Thanks to everyone who contributed to making the 2008 Irish Green Gathering twice as big and twice as successful as the 2007 event.  Here are a selection of comments we have been receiving by email, please leave your own comment by replying at the bottom of this post and feel free to mention your name if you would like.  Photos may be emailed to Nicola and we will put a selection of images up on the blog if appropriate!  Please note that the most recent comments that we receive will be at the top of this page.

Hi Green Gathering Folk,

 I just wanted to say thanks for putting on such a brilliant festival this year. it was our first year, recommended by friends as a family friendly event. We were not disappointed, it outshone any expectations. the activities for kids were really outstanding and to be honest i wouldnt have minded paying a bit for kids tickets when i saw the lengths gone to to entertain them! Also i was pleasantly surprised by how sober it was, the kids were not exposed to messy daytime drunkenness which was nice!

We were just settling in when suddenly it was over and i cant wait to come next year!

In ternms of improvements i read your most recent blog and you have covered any suggestions i had – security, dog control and improved lighting. We werent sure where to park up when we arrived so maybe a map of the site would be handy at the gate esp to family area. We had some trouble accessing water, toilets and bins from where we were. but will know better next year!

Thanks again

Le Gra o Niamh

Hi Nicola,

 My husband, two year old daughter, some friends and I were in attendance at the IGG this year, and we thoroughly enjoyed it, and we were delighted to see and meet so many people with similar interests in “green” living. We will definitely be back again next year. I must applaud the organisers and the volunteers, especially for making it such a child friendly event. I would like to make a couple of small comments though, which you should take as constructive please, as I really do have only positive feelings about the festival but I think there are one or two things that could be looked into for next year.

 1 – The attitude of most people was great, but we did have the misfortune to be in a tent next to some pretty noisy and drunk 14 year olds the first night. Though we were in the family area, where most others had very small children, and though those teenagers’ parents were in another tent only 50 yards away, their parents did not even try to curb the underage drinking, the littering, or the noise. In the end, we moved our tent, as we felt confronting a gang of drunk teens might not be so wise with a 2 year old involved. All of this is obviously the parents fault, and not the organisers, but I do think that some security would have been a good idea so as to clamp down on the underage drinking, and on people causing a nuisance in the campsite at night time so as to keep the event child friendly.

 2 – The lack of lighting – especially to light the way to the chemical toilets, and so on, was a little dangerous to be honest. I understand the need to keep energy consumption to a minimum, believe me, I am in full agreement on that, but I don’t think that it should be at the cost of safety. All the good work would come to an abrupt end if, for an example, (worst case scenario, I know, but not impossible) anything untoward was to happen to a drunken 14 year old girl on her way to the toilets in the dark. I would like to feel that when my daughter is 14 that we would still be attending this event, and that she could feel safe in doing so. Perhaps the organisers could look into improving the lighting as well as security.

 3 – Also, with regard the no bottle policy. I think it would be much better to try to get bottle banks on site rather than trying to confiscate bottles on entry. If you have cars, vans and camper vans being searched on entry it would take days to get everyone in. I know our car was packed pretty tight, and it would have taken quite some time to unpack search and repack – especially as it was dark when we finally make it up from Cork. Besides, if people want to bring their own drink, they are limited to beer cans, which is unfortunate for anyone who would rather drink wine or similar, and would be quite willing to use bottle banks were they provided.

 Again, thanks to all involved, and good luck with the preparations for next year. See ye in ‘09.

 Kind Regards,

Rosemarie

Hi Nicola,

 

 I was at the Green Gathering for the first time this year…it was excellent!  Congrats on all your hard work, it paid off immensely.

 Thanks,

Samantha

 

Just want to say a big thank you* the gathering was beautiful in every way and the work you put in was astounding.

Sophia

 

 Dear Nicola,

I really enjoyed my time at IGG.  Well done to you and all the others who put so much into it.  It was great.  Thank you.

All the best,

Tom

 

Hi Nicola

I just wanted to send my very sincere thanks for the great event.

All the hard work paid off. The gathering was a great success.

Its not often you see so many smiling faces in the rain.

I really enjoyed the weekend and the people responded so positively to my work it was a great experience.

Thank you for the opportunity.

Best Regards

Sarah

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