Greenbelt Festival Closes with Thousands Calling for Trade Justice

Monday 29th August 2005, the Greenbelt Festival 2005 came to a close in front of thousands at Cheltenham racecourse. Over the four-day event more than 18,000 people attended the arts festival, which carried the theme ‘Tree of Life’.

This year’s Greenbelt Festival was one of the most diverse ever seen, with a huge mix of programmes of music, performing and visual arts as well as worship, seminars and social activism.

Attendees to this year’s festivities experienced a host of new features to the event, including a new outdoor stage on the edge of the site, which was used for music and seminars. The festival village this year also expanded deep into the heart of the racecourse with marquees, shops running alongside the huge temporary campsite.

The final night saw Jazz Jamaica and Emmanuel Jal close the festival, and they have joined Estelle, The Proclaimers, Carleen Anderson, former Deacon Blue frontman Ricky Ross, and comedian Milton Jones among many other artists to perform at the Christian festival.

Over the four days the seminar programme was a big highlight of the event with a broad and challenging stance on various issues and topics currently rife in the world. Leading speakers included Bishop of Liverpool Rt Revd James Jones, Palestinian theologian Naim Ateek and Guantanamo Bay lawyer Clive Stafford Smith. Broadcaster Karen Armstrong also spoke on the rise of religious and secular fundamentalism.

Greenbelt is known for its campaigning tradition, and this year did not disappoint with thousands of festival-goers being given the opportunity to sign a foam brick forming a yellow brick road across the Grandstand, all giving their support to Christian Aid’s loud cry for trade justice; part of the Make Poverty History campaign.

After The Fire, a band from the 1970’s had re-formed for Greenbelt 2004, and they again were seen performed their single “One Rule For You”, which was especially rewritten for the campaign.

Festival Chair Karen Napier said, “It’s been a vintage Greenbelt. We’ve welcomed an incredible range of artists and contributors.

“We also dreamed up some site changes this year, all of which have proved pretty successful. It’s been an amazing year.”

Festival organisers were proud to announce that the collection of Sunday’s Communion Service raised more than £46,500, and the money will be used to launch Trust Greenbelt; a new charity that will focus on creative responses to issues of injustice in the world.

The Greenbelt festival has had a desire to support global and UK art-for-justice initiatives throughout the year, and finally Trust Greenbelt will be a new body looking to facilitate this vision.