WOMAD

• 

  just a point on sitters, some of us have no choice !!!

  But judging on some comments our choice should be don't attend womad

  I don't clutter up the disabled platform as that seems to me for those in wheelchairs, I have movement problems and cannot stand for long.

  But, I bring a chair or sit on the ground so I can hear the live music (never by the stage) off to the side or at the back.

  Obviously due to standers I rarely see the musicians but that's my body's problem not theirs.

  What I do resent is being told stand up "you are in the way", "you are taking up too much room" or being kicked and having beer poured over me as I sit on the ground because I am in someone's way.

  Live and let live people

  Posted on 02-Aug-2011 8:03pm by Nuin

• 

  agree with mcgrooger,

  Look for ways forward rather than the constant snipes of difference ways of enjoyment.

  Womad encourages diversity, that included blankets, seats, no seats, spas, standers, sitters and lying downers, bucket washers, private showers v communal, healing feilds v those who think massage is rubbish ITS ALL OK Really it is

  what is not cool is rudeness and inconsiderate behaviour

  SO rant over..... back to constructive feedback - the womad arena has limited seating options around the site,

  But actually loads of space on the avenues

  All us duffers need a nice park bench or 3, perhaps if womad had benches around the base of every flag less people would drag in their portable sofas. (yes I did see one and was well impressed)

  Posted on 02-Aug-2011 8:12pm by Nuin

• 

  Agree with McGrroger and Nuin. Womad is about sitters, standers, campers, campervaners, spa goers, teens, the middle aged and seniors (and also the guy who does vodka jellies). We stopped going to Cambridge when it broke into rival camps arguing about blankets, chairs and standing. Stay cool. It's the best festival in the world, and we are lucky to have it on our doorstep (or even, around 400 miles of door steps for us).

  Posted on 02-Aug-2011 8:27pm by Mabilica

• 

  True.
  But even so get out the way

  Posted on 02-Aug-2011 8:30pm by JayCee

• 

  Okay, I have left my comment for a while because I have found it hard to pinpoint my positives and negatives on this years womad.

  POSITIVES:
  - Great music as always
  - Great food and bars as always
  - WOMAD 3D signs, seemed to give younger kids somewhere to play
  - BIG RED TENT seemed to have a more diverse set of acts than previous years
  - New stalls and food outlets that I've not seen in my 11years which made a fantastic change although I loved going back to the Chai Chapel and the Madras Cafe as I do every year.

  NEGATIVES: (I apologise now)
  - CG Stage and RADIO3 SORT IT OUT!!! if you are going to put such high class acts and fantastically popular music on these thoroughfare stages then they need to be re-sited because it was horrendous! and in the end faultered my enjoyment of being at those stages.

  - SECURITY What The Hell?? I'm a 22 year old woman, who enjoys having a drink at womad and enjoys myself. I was approached by 3 security guards when sat on my own in an empty red tent having a drink and smoking a cigarette and reading my programme. 3 burly guards came up to me and demanded to search my bag for drugs. to no avail i may add!...they then asked for my ID i showed them my wristband and they said no photo ID which of course i didnt have i never take my full purse to womad EVER, they poured away my drinks and took my tobacco not believing i was over 18!! APPAULING BEHAVIOUR and not my idea of WOMAD!

  - The teens who did spoil it for the rest of the teens! Every year teens get a bad rep! being 22 and having been comign to womad for 11 years i was once a womad teen, and even back then we got a hammering from everyone else at the festival....the problem??....the ones who let the others down there are plenty of teens who are happy to enjoy a little drink or a little smoke and enjoy the festival responsibly, there are however some teens that are brought along and try to make the 'best of a bad situation' as they dont know about womad and its values. that is when you find the class A drugs and the slobbering teens who make a mess and ruin for the teens who actually enjoy womad for the festival it is!

  - World of Wellbeing...what the hell has happened to you?? the world of wellbeing used to be alot busier, with more health related stalls and cafes the sushi restaurant was so peaceful from a few years ago, it seems that the world of wellbeing has just become somewhere to walk through instead of enjoy and peruse through!

  - CAMPING ok so it was better this year to seperate the family from the festival but why oh why oh why was family camping so huge? we were in park and camp due to my mothers bad health and for such a high premium to pay to be able to park and camp we were SO FAR AWAY from the arena, and had to walk through the huge family camping where we were told to sssssh and shut up when we were talking moderately about how we had enjoyed our evening.

  and finally

  - SPACE, sadly I think womad has become greedy and has started to sell and sell and sell and sell tickets saturday was unbearable, it took me an hour to cross the site from big red to siam!! AN HOUR!!!! the crowds were huge and it hindered the enjoyment of saturday for me....either the festival has outgrown the site AGAIN or womad has got to think about the comfort and happiness of those people who are spending nearly £200 each to be there from start to finish!

  okay now my moan is over i will reiterate points that are constructive and suggest some solutions....i think this thread is alot of moaning and not alot of solutions being offered...

  SOLUTIONS:

  - get back to womad grassroots! (THIS WILL BE ESSENTIAL FOR THE 30TH ANNIVERSARY!) Remember how it was, and why so many people come to womad every year, its because it was like a secret family home to thousands when you change too much it stops being that home and becomes something different...

  - REARRANGE THE SITE!!! If you guys at womad want help or suggestions PLEASE just ask i'd be happy to help you from a womaders perspective!!! too much space is wasted in the world of wellbeing and by stalls in the arena that are selling exactly the same products as the stall next to them.

  - a cull on samey stalls!! stalls should be evaluated before getting a pitch, im sorry its okay to have 6 hat stalls....if they all sell different hats! i remember womad being an exciting place to shop and experience different objects and things to buy, WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED THIS YEAR?? shop after shop after shop full of glastonbury cast offs!! we are womad not glasto's ebay store! (p.s where the hell was fairy love this year? truly unique and MISSED!!!)

  MY FINAL STATEMENT IS TO THE MASSES ON THIS FORUM...

  -GIVE EVERYONE A BREAK!
  Yes there were some teens who were vile little consumers
  yes there were some chair holders who unnecessarily saved places
  Yes there were people who ruined things for you

  THATS THE PRICE WE PAY FOR A DIVERSE WOMAD TRY SEEING THINGS FROM THESE PERSPECTIVES...

  - have you thought that maybe these teens are just from an entirely different generation and womad maybe isnt providing something to keep them entertained enough?? when i was 17 i enjoyed the workshops beatboxing drumming dancing there was so little!!! maybe having more would help and keep the nasties off their backs so they dont act out further to piss them off even more??

  -have you thought that some people in those chairs need them? my mum needs a chair as she has arthritis in her knee and a bad back she cannot stand, us 'kids (twentysomethings) like to sit with our parents and we have a blanket so that we can sit together and stand together without being pushed apart and separated by rude and obnoxious people who take no respect for people at all!!

  - EVERYONE IS DIFFERENT some people want to scream and shout and some people want to sit and observe, families want a safe environment for their children and teenagers want to rave til the early hours, some people want to go to a festival and sit with a pint and watch the world go by and enjoy this diverse little world we have ALL created over the years.....just enjoy it and stop worrying so much about what everyone else is doing....

  sorry for the essay i just needed to get it off my chest....i appreciate any comments back xx hope you all enjoyed it...for me it wasnt the best this year xx

  

  Posted on 02-Aug-2011 8:46pm by WomadLoverr

• 

  @AndyJackdaw - there were pissoirs, but only at the loos next to the fairground (so in easy enough reach of Big Red and Charlie Gillet), I guess just because this is the place where there's room round the back of the portaloos. Didn't know they were there until one of the attendants started calling out that guys who only needed to pee could go round the back rather than queuing for the sitters, so could have been better signed. But even at the busiest times I was impressed by how quickly the queues moved anyway, and how clean the loos were other than (understandably) at the end of sunday night for the ones as you left the arena past the Siam tent.

  Posted on 02-Aug-2011 8:49pm by Dave26

• 

  We had a cracking time. I enjoyed all I got to see and look forward to going again. I would like for the campervan field to be closer to the arena, so my legs won't be so tired and I'll have to sit down and be in everybodies way.

  Posted on 02-Aug-2011 8:50pm by Zan Yeti

• 

  There were pissoirs at the loos next to the quick service bar and the ones next to the showers as well. And for both of those I am grateful. WOMAD should tell more people about them tho, as it would make the queues shorter for those who have to use the toilets.
  At the woman who had security steal her booze because she didn't have photo ID, I think that is about as far from a WOMAD vibe as you can get and someone from WOMAD should address it. While I saw some security being very helpful it only takes a few of them to ruin it.

  Posted on 02-Aug-2011 9:59pm by RanaNegra

• 

  Not a fan of the showers. Queues too long so I didn't have one, luckily my partner gets up really early so she could. It stands to reason it will take longer because in the communal ones people can be ready to dive straight in, and let someone else in before they are dressed and dried.
  Wasn't sure about the programming - is there a thread for that? Too many big acts in small stages and some in big stages who could have been on smaller ones. Too many quiet acts drowned out as well.
  I thought the toilets were actually pertty good, an excellent job done by those keeping them stocked and as clean as possible. Also impressed by improved bars, quick service and a better range that lasted longer. Shame it was so expensive - £3.40 a pint seems a lot to me.

  Posted on 02-Aug-2011 10:05pm by RanaNegra

• 

  An interesting read on this thread, and I'm generally left with the feeling that you can't please all of the people all of the time. I am left with some strong feelings though:

  - Radio 3 stage layout needs fixing badly.
  - Talking over the music IS annoying for the average festival goer, but sadly this seems to be an all-too-common occurence at most concerts I attend. Certainly not within WOMADs gift to do anything about it.
  - Security has been beefed up to prevent a recurrence of last year's problems with under-age drinking and the impact on others. Although we didn't witness any problems this year, it sounds like there's a balance to be struck, and that hasn't been achieved yet.
  WOMAD has changed over the years, it's had to respond to tighter rules and regulations and the horrendous costs that these things incur. Hence the constant friction between costs/traders/numbers. I only hope that it doesn't become just another festival.

  Posted on 02-Aug-2011 10:23pm by Captain Mubbers

You need to be logged in and have a forum nickname to add a reply