The second Be Free Festival took place in August. Nearly 300 people with learning disabilities and their supporters had a great time in a huge park in the wilds of Essex. Seán Kelly was there too, taking pictures. “It was a blast!’ he says.
Organised by Paradigm the three days included a host of exciting sports activities in the day time such as archery, rock-climbing and riding on a huge zip-wire. There were also creative activities such as printing your own t-shirts and making ‘protest’ banners. The sun shone every day.
A great new development was that in the evenings there were excellent live DJ sets and live singers and bands. Highlights for me were seeing the soulful singer Lizzie Emeh and the fab group “Too Hot for Candy”. Another highlight was a great acoustic performance from young singer Ije. She performed on the grass with her guitar and serenaded people as they arrived and booked in, a lovely welcome for festival-goers.
A popular stand was ‘Beats Massage’ where you could have a massage in perfect time to your favourite music, and just like any other festival there was festival food available to be bought. Great Caribbean food from the ‘Caribbean Queen’ stall vied with tasty soft-shell crab burgers and other delights, not to mention fresh popcorn and candyfloss.
Why did she start the festivals? I asked Sally Warren, Managing Director of Paradigm. “Because someone with learning disabilities said they love our conferences but there are so many – can’t we do something different?”
Sally says that Be Free is pushing the boundaries both for people who receive support and for staff so that people find new opportunities and new friendships. It’s not just about fun though, each festival has what Sally calls a hidden theme. This year’s theme was to encourage people to think about what are the essential skills staff need to have to offer great support. “Great support doesn’t limit but challenges and pushes back the shackles of the system”, she says. Festival goers were brought together in the main marquee to discuss these issues and finally they voted on the top aspects of great support.
Paradigm will be using the eight essentials voted on to push for ‘Gr8 Support’ and to challenge the bad support we hear about so ofen.
Find out more at http://www.paradigm-uk.org/events-training/be-free Paradigm plan to launch “Gr8Support2day” soon but in the meantime go to twitter and search for #Gr8Support2day
