As this was the first time I had been to a gathering of other like minded people I left with mixed thoughts on the event. Perhaps I was expecting too much in the one day that I had, but I've waited a week to think about what I saw and what happened on the day. So here are my thoughts, while walking around the site looking for something to catch my attention - I had arrived at 8.45am - what a shame to find the fire circle littered with bottles, cans and rubbish. What a greater shame when during the morning talk on the days events people were asking for bins to be placed there to put the rubbish in, not an auspicious start to the day considering WE ALL TAKE OUT WHAT WE TAKE IN when enjoying the outdoors. Then to cap it all off everyone who had probably enjoyed the previous evening left without anyone taking any rubbish with them what were you waiting for your mam to pick it up!!!!!
I know the event had been described as relaxed and informal with impromptu talks and workshops going on throughout the event but I only had the one day ( Sunday ) and would this let me plan ahead to fill the day. Having seen the display board the plan was the morning Axe workshop - due to start at 10.00 - followed by the cordage demo then grub and finally the bow and drill workshop. But the axe workshop was already running late due to the morning talk. Perhaps next year the talk could take place 30mins before any workshops are due to start. This in turn meant I missed the cordage demo which started on time but during the Axe workshop I'm sure you follow my drift here. But the day had started a bit better than this as while walking round first thing who did we meet but Wayland / Ravenlore and had the opportunity to talk about some new products and some of the articles on his web site that I'm sure most of us have copied and put to good use. But would the day end as well as it had started and the answer is yes thanks to George and his bow and drill workshop then his flint and steel demo and myriad of other fire starting kits. So this past week I've been practicing like mad and putting together a few bits of kit for the school to show the children.
So thanks to all but next year can we have just a little bit more structure for the first timers perhaps even an area set aside to show first timers or novices all the basics in one day -fire skills, shelter, bushcraft tools, cordage, water and food. Why not have this set up for the Saturday and Sunday and advertise it as such on the Bushcraft UK web site so that first timers or novices like myself could see most of the skills that make up bushcrafting and leave feeling the need to return next year for more.
So a thank you to Wayland and George for rescuing the day I will be back next year, but at the moment as the Bushmoot is set out I feel you need a much longer stay than just the one day to get the full benefit of all that knowledge that is walking around there. But on the plus side my god I left feeling very relaxed even after the one day.