Birgit's Birthday Bash

Our badminton friends Birgit and Wade are very bear friendly and always ensure we have a great time. Do you remember the wonderful things we got up to last year when we went to stay with them at Camp Griem-Leada? The highlight was the glider flight that I (Chelmer) enjoyed with my friend Rocco.

Recently Birgit had a special birthday (us bears are too discrete to mention which one). And so she had lots of people round, including us, for a garden party with musical entertainment provided by the guests.


The first musical act set a very high standard. Birgit performed with her guitar group of 4 guitarist friends. We sat there listening entraced, as you can see from our picture.

Lots more musical people performed after them and the acts ranged from witty words being sung to traditional tunes to a group from Germany singing in German.

I'm sure you're all eager to know what Rocco and I did for our musical offering. Well, the clue should be that Wade is a drumming friend of mine, as you may recall from previous posts.

It was therefore only natural that we joined Wade for a spot of drumming.


First we provided an accompaniment to a male / female duo and then we accompanied Wade's brother who was a cracking guitar player.


We were so inspired by all this musical talent, that we thought that we really should start learning to play the guitar as there is one available for members of the Norfolk branch to use.

And in case you wondering, the party food and drink was pretty fantastic too. The only dampener on the day was the rain which was never far away. Fortunately we did have a collection of gazebos to shelter under and we refused to be driven inside.

Lots of love Chelmer & Rocco xxx

Super Ted to the Rescue

It was very hot in the greenhouse, so when we emerged, we were ready for a bit of refreshment. En route to the excellent refreshment area and a delicious cream tea, we stopped to admire the bear sized apple tree ...


... it was an easy bear climb (my climbing skills aren't quite up to George & Yorkie's) and it was great to be able to reach the apples without any human assistance. The garden owner had suggested I give her apples a try and boy were they refreshing!

It's amazing how a spot of refreshment brings the senses back alive. We both suddenly realised we could hear muffled cries for help. We hurried off to investigate and were only just in time.


The owner of this hand was slowly slipping out of sight. Clearly there was a problem and there wasn't time to think about whether an ancient mine shaft had been discovered or global warming had turned Norfolk into a giant bog - we had to act quick.

For a small bear Henry had great strength, and his mighty haul recovered a rather dusty and begrimed body to the surface. We knew exactly what was required to effect a quick recovery, one of those marvellous cream teas. One mouthful and no-one could help but feel better.

Having heard the recommendation, our new friend insisted on buying us another cream tea as a reward. Who were we to refuse?!

Lots of love, Tommy & Henry xxx

I'm Back!

It's a well known fact that gardeners need patience: after all a seed doesn't turn into a fruiting plant overnight. My naturally patient nature is probably why I (Tommy) am the Bears Unlimited gardening bear. It also means that I was happy to break off from my postings about the Open Gardens scheme, to allow Gio and the Greenbelt team to post about their Greenbelt experiences which they were all so enthusiastic about.

They've now handed back to me so I'll continue with my Sunny Sunday tale.

After our spell of gate duty Henry, and I hurried into the cool of the 2 gardens which were open for us to explore. Here there was definite evidence that that these gardens enjoyed a lot of sunshine.


I was so surprised to see these lemons. It was the first time I had seen lemons growing in an English garden, although Eddie had told me about seeing them growing in Greece when he was on his last sailing holiday.

I was also impressed by the size of the bell peppers growing in the greenhouse ...


... real beauties they were, and I couldn't help but think of all the wonderful dishes chef Oakley could create, if I could grow him some peppers as fine as these.

The greenhouse was beside the owner's bee-hives which I found quite fascinating. I think bee-keeping could be a very relaxing hobby so I asked lots of questions about what is involved. I was rather alarmed to hear that the greenhouse in which I was standing had caught fire earlier in the year when the owner had been smoking the bees.

As I thought about all the potential dangers, I started to have second thoughts about taking up bee-keeping. More research is definitely needed.

Lots of love, Tommy & Henry xxx

Final Reflections

We've blogged a good few words about this year's Greenbelt and we're sure you've read enough to know what you missed if you weren't there with us.

We'd like to finish with 2 of our favourite photos, which we think sum up, more than words, the spirit of this year's festival.


The first is of me (Gio) with a rather lovely sunflower. As this year's theme was 'Rising Sun' this picture had special significance for me and it will remind me of all my happy memories of my first ever Greenbelt, every time I look at it.

My second picture shows our tent lit up at night with Bris looking out for me as I came back from a final visit to one of the indispensible Andy Loos ...


With so many tents in the camping ground, having a lighted window and a friendly face looking out, was so welcome and stopped me getting lost.

This picture also reminds me, that there is so much going on at Greenbelt, that late night returns to your tent are very much the norm. Once back at our tent we would would sit up for another hour or so, relaxing over a glass of wine and talking over the events of the day with friends Travelling Moose and T5 Wilbur. We didn't get a lot of sleep but we got enough to fully enjoy the next day.

I can't wait for next year and Greenbelt 2009.

Lots of love Gio, Bris and the Greenbelt crew xxx

A Monk's Tale

Once the communion was over, Wilbur went back to work at the Performance Cafe, and the other guys went off to visit the festival village and listen to some of the speakers.

I had a very special meeting to go to, but first, I had time to squeeze in a listen to a great artist called Beth Rowley who was performing on main stage. I managed to listen to her last three numbers and would have loved to hear more - perhaps that's a good reason to buy one of her CDs. Here you see me enjoying listening to her at main stage.


At the end of her set, I bumped into someone who was able to give me some advice about an exciting project that I am hoping to undertake with George and Yorkie next year (you'll find out more nearer the time). I couldn't talk to them for long as I had my special meeting to go to, but we agreed to meet up in Norfolk to talk further over one of Oakley's special meals.

My special meeting related to my interesting past. As many of our readers will know, I came from Hilfield Friary earlier this year, and as well as being a member of Bears Unlimited, I am also a member of the Society of St Francis. While I love living with all the guys at Bears Unlimited, I have missed some of the Brothers from Hilfield, and especially my favourite Brother, Brother Bart. And so it was particularly wonderful to bump into him at Greenbelt and arrange a time to catch up.



I took Brother Bart back to the Bear Tent and over a Beer (sadly not Wherry) we were able to have a long old chat about all the latest news from Hilfield and all that was happening in our lives.

Before we knew it, it was time for Brother Bart to go to Compline but I agreed join him and the other Brothers and Sister for their mid day communion the next day.

Its always good to meet up wth old friends and Greenbelt is fantastic for unexpected encounters like this.

After saying goodbye to Brother Bart I decided to go back to the festival village where I met up with the others guys in the "Jesus Arms" Beer Tent, where Bris, Randolph and Traveling Moose were leading singing at the Beer and Hymns.

Love Geo and all the Greenbelt Crew xxxxxxx

You Are My Sunshine

The theme for this year's Greenbelt was Rising Sun so it was a bit ironic that early on Sunday Morning (1:30 to be precise) the heavens opened and it begun to rain, which drove us late night Wherry drinkers to bed.

Fortunately we woke to find the rain had stopped and the sun was out, but the ground was soaked and very muddy. As you can imagine mud and fur do not really mix and we were all a bit worried about what we were going to do at the Sunday Communion. Luckily Wilbur was at hand with a large tarpaulin he had thought to bring along so we were able to keep ourselves mud free as we sat down for the service.


Bris went and organised our Communion pack which contained Bread, Wine, coloured ribbons, orders of service and other goodies. As we waited, more and more people arrived for the service: there were so many that we had to meet in two places at Main Stage where we were, and also in the Arena.

Then, with much fanfare, groups came in from the North, South, East and West, representing the four corners of the globe, and then the Service began. We were all very impressed by the preacher who came from Brazil and told us that she enjoys soaking up the sun, wearing her bikini on Copacabana beach. Guess what happened next ... the heavens opened and we all got wet.

However, our lusty singing of the Beatles number 'Here Comes the Sun' did the trick and drove the rain away.


Love the Greenbelt crew xxx

Bongo Bonanza

Hope you haven't missed us too much while we've been off air, but there's been a good reason for our blog silence. Some of us have been off on yet another adventure - this time an overseas one. We look forward to sharing it with you soon, but first we need to finish what we've already started (in true Mastermind fashion).

So, back to Greenbelt and the wonderful experiences we enjoyed there. Most of the music you here there, is created by very talented and famous musicians. Occasionally, the less famous get a chance to perform ...


... see anyone you recognise?

Chelmer reckons he is a bit of pro and, as you know, he's drumming mad. This fine collection of drums at the Chai Chapel therefore drew him like a magnet.


This impromptu performance drew quite a crowd and, as there were more drums than Chelmer could bang himself, he invited people to join in and led them in a lively drumming workshop.

At one point we were making so much noise we were in danger of drowning out the main stage performance. One of the mainstage crew had to ask us if we'd mind drumming a little more gently.

Lots of love Geo and the Greenbelt crew xxx

The Furred Emergency Service!!!

The Greenbelt fire crew volunteers are another rather special group of volunteers. They are on duty 24/7 keeping watch on the camping areas and events venues, checking barbecues and gas cookers are safely handled and no tents (or worse) catch fire. They also patrol the site doing safety demos and we felt very sorry for the tent which was sacrificed for their demo.

This year CCTV cameras were in operation to allow them to view the camping areas from a distance. In the past they have had to keep watch from the top of scaffolding towers in the camping area and they must have got very cold in the middle of the night.

Although the scaffolding towers had gone this year, the round the clock Land Rover patrols had not. This is another reason to take ear plugs to Greenbelt. Land Rovers can be quite noisy driving past your tent at 4.00 a.m. - we're not complaining though, it's a vital job.


When we spotted one of the fire Land Rovers (appropriately red!) outside the fire crew's base we popped over to have a look and also to express our thanks and appreciation for the vital work these volunteers do.

Some of you may remember our post early last year with us doing some topless modelling on the bonnet of a Land Rover in the Peak District, thinking how much we'd like to do a Top Gear challenge in a Landie. We were able to recreate this pose on the bonnet of an even bigger and finer Land Rover. This one had his name, Oscar, in the window.

On this occasion the emergency lights weren't on. We were quite pleased as it allowed us to linger and the fire crews to get a well-earned break.

Lots of love George, Chelmer and the Grrenbelt crew xxx

Wilbur Lends a Paw

A great festival like Greenbelt wouldn't happen without a lot of help. As it says on the Greenbelt website Volunteers make Greenbelt a living Festival. Without them Greenbelt could not exist. Apparently there are over 1500 of them working across the festival weekend and throughout the year giving their help for free.

This year their number was increased by one by our good friend T5 Wilbur (which is why you haven't seen him on the blog so far) who was in seventh heaven in his Hi-Vis jacket working all over the site stewarding at various venues.


He told us that his favourite duty was working in the Performance Cafe tent where you could hear a variety of excellent live music. Here we are with Wilbur during one of his breaks at the Performance Cafe, when we joined him for a cup of tea and slice of carrot cake while listing to one of our Greenbelt favorites Esther Alexander.

Not only was the carrot cake fantastic, but as the icing on the cake, Esther sung a great set, which included our favourite song "Last of the hopeless romantics".

Tea and music over, we left Wilbur to his stewarding, and agreed to meet him for a well earned pint at the Organic Beer tent later in the day.

Love Gio and the Greenbelt Crew xxxxxx

Lost!

When you are in a big crowd, if you are not careful, its easy to get lost and then it can be quite scary. As I was surveying the world from the vantage point of my Cactus, I heard the sound of sobbing and, looking around, I saw a very sad looking creature. At first I though it might be a woolly mammoth, but they don't usually frequent Gloucestershire. Regardless of what he was, I decided to go over to him and see if I could help and dry his tears.


His name was Ollie and that he was part of a herd of very rare Gloucestershire Oxen (obviously with some woolly mammoth genes), who lived at the Cheltenham Racecourse, in a place called the Winged Ox. He had gone out to on to the Racecourse to graze on some nice juicy grass, but with all the people milling around the Racecourse he had got himself lost and couldn't find his way home. Ollie explained that this was not the first time he had got lost when there was a big crowd at the Racecourse. After we had wiped his tears he then went on to tell me that it wasn't only him that got lost, but that his whole family regularly had the same problem. This was the reason that he had a label attached to his neck asking passers by to help him and his family to find their way home.

Fortunately I had a festival guide with me that had a map of the festival and was able to guide him back towards the Winged Ox. We walked together towards his home, but before we got there Ollie suddenly recognised where he was and we bade each other farewell.

Just to make sure that he got safely home I followed from a distance, I then discovered that the Winged Ox contained a bar selling a fine selection of Ales and hosted some very good folk music. So later when I was feeling a thirsty I called at our tent and found Bris, Randolph and Benji who I took to the Winged Ox to have a pint and to listen to the music.

In the Winged Ox we bumped into Ollie and some of his family who bought us a fine pint of one of the local Gloucestershire ales.

Love Gio xxxx