Planning the next Climate Festival

It’s never too soon to get people thinking about climate! This spring, the valley (and its sustainability initiative) organised a Climate Festival. And coming spring we want to do it again. And that requires some organisation. There are regular meetings; I had missed one, but now I was available for the next one. The invitation said the meeting would start at 5:30, and we were all invited to join the weekly free meal before that, at 4 pm. I was aware of this meal, but I never joined. 

I eat quite early, but 4 pm is pushing it a bit. Additionally; I had a work meeting until 4 pm, so I couldn't physically be in Bethesda at that time anyway. So I got home from work, quickly ate some leftovers, and then went to the meeting. I saw a lot of activity in the kitchen and the place that functioned as a dining room, but I saw little signs of a meeting! I also saw that Chris, the organiser of the meeting, was still busy with food. I flagged him down, and he suggested I just sat with the diners. The meeting would start a bit later. He offered me food, but I had already eaten! At least people came to offer me some tea. I did not turn that down.

Canolfan Cefnfaes in the dark

I just sat down with three strangers who looked welcoming. And they were. We just had a nice chat (in Welsh) while they were eating their quite good-looking Christmas dinner. It was nice of them to include me! And by the time they were more or less finished, Chris gave a sign that the meeting would be starting. The other participants of the meeting had joined in the dinner.

We went to a different room; there are only four of us. And we could get the meeting over quite quickly. The previous meeting, that I had missed, had covered potential venues for the climate festival. They didn’t want to do it in the same place as in 2023, and we quite liked the idea of doing it in the Community Centre in nearby Tregarth. But we discussed whether we would have access to outside space, and we discussed parking, and how to get more volunteers, and what external people to get involved, and how to get people there. It was quite thinkable that many people would come from Bethesda, and we could try to organise that. In some sustainable way. We also discussed accessibility. 

When we were done, Chris said that we should have some Christmas pudding, or a mince pie. So l did! And then I made my way home. It was still quite early. I hope our next Climate Festival is going to be a clanging success!