Sunday, October 05, 2008

The bus’s first event

I've just woken up after the best night's sleep I've had in months! I suspect this might have something to do with the fact that the Big Green Bus has finally attended its first event and I have at long last seen the project I've been working on for the last 18 months come to life.

The event spanned two days and was held at Fitzmaurice Primary School in Bradford-on-Avon. Day one, on Friday 3rd Oct, saw the bus playing host throughout the day to over 200 children from the school and it was an absolute delight to see their faces as they toured the bus, made pedal powered smoothies and listened to all we had to tell them about green living. Some of the children have promised to write about their time on the bus so we will hopefully have some first hand accounts to post on the site later in the week.

The next day, Saturday 4th Oct, the school hosted the first Bradford Green Fair. It was organised and sponsored by a wonderful lady called Cally Smart of ‘Country Gate' who is a member of the newly formed Bradford-on-Avon sustainability group, and, although the weather was atrocious, the event really was a resounding success. Well done Cally and thank you for being the first person to hire the bus! I'd also like to say a huge thank you to Cally's friends, Christopher and Anne, who generously allowed me and two of our volunteers to stay in their house whilst we were in Bradford. They not only gave us breakfast both days before we headed off to the school, but also invited us to join them for one of the most delicious suppers I've had in a long time.

The best part of the two day event for me was seeing the bus full of so many people who were interested in the kind of information and advice we had on offer. The workshops and talks we held on the top deck were full to the brim and our volunteers downstairs (and outside) were busy answering questions, giving demonstrations and handing out advice all day! I saw loads of people taking photographs, so hopefully we will have some of them posted on the site very soon so you can see how fabulous it was to have the bus brought to life at long last!

All we have to do now is recover the bus, but that's another story ...