91Èȱ¬

15.05.09 - 17.09.09 | Braziers Park | Oxfordshire

The WOOD festival is a family-run affair, and proud of its eco-credentials, boasting a solar-powered stage, composting toilets and showers and a sauna heated by wood-burning stoves.

This year WOOD will be held at Braziers Park, Oxfordshire on May 15, 16 and 17, and will feature a line-up of mainly acoustic and organic music. There will also be a full program of activities and workshops for all ages.

A tent at the WOOD festival

Festival organiser Joe Bennett, said that everyone involved in the festival was a member of his family. Many of the organisers are also in bands, which will play at the WOOD festival after-parties.

He said: "We all play. My bands are called Danny, the Champions of the World, Dusty and the Dreaming Spires and Goldrush."

WOOD started up two years ago as the 'little cousin' of the Truck festival in Oxfordshire, which has been running since 1998.

"Truck has been rolling along much the same way for years." said Danny. "We wanted to try some radically new ideas out by starting up the Wood festival.

"We had a solar powered stage at WOOD last year, and this year we are bringing it in at Truck. We decided we wanted to try out new things at WOOD, and if they were successful we would bring it in at Truck next year."

WOOD Festival has three stages: one powered by solar power, one powered by vegetable oil or bio-diesel, and a third stage/disco/cinema powered by cyclists' pedal power.

"You'd be surprised, it does work." said Danny. "People do pedal!"

The environmentally-friendly WOOD Festival was in part inspired by the 2007 floods in Oxfordshire which forced Danny to cancel his Truck Festival.

He said: "That year Truck was completely flooded out. You realise how fragile is the stability of the planet.

"The entire village was under water. It was really dramatic, though the next day it had all gone. My family's house was flooded the same day."

According to research group Julie's Bicycle, the UK music industry emits at least 540,000 tonnes of CO2 equivalent a year - the same amount of greenhouse gas as a town of 54,000 inhabitants.

Joe Bennett told 91Èȱ¬ Radio Berkshire that Julie's Bicycle has endorsed the WOOD festival due to its impeccable Green credentials.

The festival even offers recycling workshops in which festival organisers can learn how to make wallets from orange juice cartons.

"We're aiming to use renewable energy sources as much as possible." said Joel.Ìý

He added that the number of festivals had exploded in the past five years, but WOOD still had something different to offer.

"It's run by a family, for a family. Everyone working there is a member of my family or extended family." he said: "It just is a great atmosphere. Last summer, children were running around, and adults having a great time. We had these old hippies phoning their friends and saying it was like Glastonbury in the 1970s."

"It's not like those money-making-machine festivals."

The WOOD festival offers opportunities for everyone from children to grandparents to participate. With workshops including singing, woodcraft, yoga to a fashion dress parade – with plenty of opportunities to learn more and join in our lively lunchtime discussions.

The WOOD festival has a capacity of 1,000, and tickets will be available on the gate.

Tickets for WOOD 2009 are now on sale from www.ThisIsTruck.com/WOOD.