As I get ready for my annual visit to Stainsby Festival, sorting drums, percussion boxes, camping gear and all the stuff I need for what is now going to be a full month away, I am reminded by a social media post that is is 10 years to the day since I set off on an epic rhythmical odyssey.
DrumTrek.
Back in 2014 the Stainsby Festival learned that the land on which the gathering had taken place since 1972/3 was up for sale. First refusal was offered and so at the end of the weekend the crew were sat around the fire post take-down chatting over a few drams about how we might raise the funds. Some wag quipped that I could walk from John O’groats to Lands End whilst playing a drum. My response had a very clear OFF as it’s second word but an idea was sparked.
I facilitated two ‘in the moment’ community drum circles as part of the festival every year and so would be back in 2015 to do the same. What if I began a journey at John O’groats and passed via Stainsby on my way to Lands End with a van full of drums and percussion and facilitated one drum circle a day over 26 days? (A marathon is 26 miles and this is where the idea came from.) Maybe it was the whisky talking.
Post festival I sounded out the UK wide drum circle community that I had helped to birth since 1999 and the response was very positive. I also added a second charity to my fund raising pot, Wiston lodge, where I was living and working as a volunteer to help set up a creative arts program for their user groups.
By early April 2015 I had 36 sessions booked in on a circuitous route south and still just the 26 days to do it. I accepted the challenge. I had a well paid project for June so could afford to take the month of July off in its entirety. Or so I thought. Here is the blog I posted one month before the trek was due to begin.
DRUMTREK UPDATE…..Everything that needs to be in place is in place….well, not everything…the van is in the garage and is gonna cost £400 to fix…..oh and the £1600 work contract for June that I had lined up so I could go on the road for a month and not earn anything was cancelled…but apart from that…everything is great…I have all locations sorted…venues and times booked…..Local organisers in place…..I have this BLOG to keep you all updated as I go with reports and videos and I have a Go Fund Me site set up for donations.
I am sitting here late at night having had too much coffee today, wondering what it is that motivates me to push ahead with this project despite the fact that when I pay for the van I will have very little left of the ‘safety pot’ I was hoping for before setting off. It is a compelling and dynamic mistress this drum journey I have been on in it’s various guises over the years. All along the way I have followed my heart and been part of all kinds of amazing communities. Two of those communities are Wiston, where I now live and Stainsby where I have spent many a happy time. Both are models of how community can be in many ways, neither perfect nor Utopian…both real and powerful in their own ways…both have offered me glimpses of a ‘Good Life’, a place where folk can just be together. That’s the motivation right there.
Service.
It’s what I do and it’s never about the money…not for me…but for this trip it is about the money…for them. So dig deep my friends and DONATE PLEASE. I’m going to do this trip in July come what may. I have no idea what financial state I will be in at the start, nor at the end…truth is I’m not concerned. It always works out. Always. I will be meeting up with and sharing rhythms with some of the most amazing folk I have ever known and a whole bunch of new people…26 days in a row. How amazing! How wonderful a thing that is to be doing!
I am Blessed. Truly.
I am a rich man 😉
See you on the Trek xxx
My trusty van got a paint job courtesy of my daughter’s graffiti pal and I set off on July 3rd 2015. I completed the trek on July 29th 2015. 36 drum circles later. If you drive directly from John O’groats to Lands End it is 835 miles. My route was different and took me here there and everywhere in the 26 days, clocking up a staggering 3298 miles. I raised just over £7000 which was split between the two charities.
Wiston used their money to hep build a musical trail in the forest and Stainsby added their contribution to the pot that eventually enabled the purchase of the festival site.
Nice seeds to be able to plant.
I have footage of the road ahead for the whole trip, filmed on a gopro hero which one day will be something (lol). I made a video and blog every evening after I was done facilitating the circles for that day and they all live in the old blog and also here
The whole trip can be seen at the old blog which I kept open for some global trip blogging some years later. Just search drumtrek. There are 26 episodes. I know.
Here’s a wee video from the road on Skye.
There is just something about a good drum circle that moves the soul.