Dear Friends
The parents and friends of Exeter Steiner School are happy to invite you all to the second:

Southwest Steiner Summer Gathering.

From Friday the 17th to Monday the 20th of July.
At the beautiful West Town Farm, Ide, near Exeter.
www.westtownfarm.co.uk

     Our idea is to bring together the British Steiner School communities, in the simple social setting of the beautiful Devon countryside, to enjoy ourselves.

     The gathering is open to past and present members of your community and your close friends.

     This is not a fundraiser! There is only a nominal charge of £5.00 per night for each adult staying in a tent or camper van (all of your children that are 16 and under are completely free).

The entertainment.
On the Friday night there will be entertainment provided by us, so you can arrive, relax and enjoy yourself.
During the days we will all be responsible for entertaining ourselves and each other. You might want to organise games, run a workshop, bring or create a play, give a talk, organise a debate, tell a story, go for a walk around the farm, DJ, play in your band, sing songs or just sit around and relax! You choose (If you want to book a particular space on a particular day at a particular time, you can).
On the Saturday evening we will all be thoroughly entertained by the amazing GOLIARDS ceilidh band. They will be playing a mixture of European dance music that will have all the family dancing.
(for more information about the band look at http://www.paulwhittall.co.uk/goliards.php
and to hear some of their music go to http://www.paulwhittall.co.uk/stomp.php and click on the sun icons).
On all three nights we will be organising a reasonably priced bar. There will be a barrel of real ale, bottled lagers, wines, a selection of refreshing cocktails and a range of non-alcoholic drinks. The profits from the bar will be used to pay for the ceilidh band, so make sure you buy drinks!
In the evenings you might want to hang out around a communal fire in the camping field. 
The sleeping and amenities.
You can arrive at the gathering and set up your tents on the Friday afternoon and take them down as late as the Monday afternoon.
The barn area will give us plenty of shelter in the unlikely event that there’s any bad weather.
Basic is the best description for the toilet and washing facilities. There will be a compost toilet in the camping field and a flush toilet by the barn. There is only one solar shower, so it will probably be cold by the time it’s your go. And there’s a stream running through the camping field. 
There is one cold water tap in the farmyard. The farm’s water supply is not from the mains and could be the most enjoyable water in the whole of the South West (no joke!).
If you want to have a communal fire in the fire pit and you don’t want to fill your car with wood, you can buy bags of logs at the Bar or you can all club together for a large amount from our local log man.      

Eating.
There are various options:
1) Bring your own food and cook separately or communally.
2) There is a basic organic whole-food shop on the farm. You can also buy organic meat that was reared on the farm
3) On Saturday, Sunday and Monday morning, from 8 am to 11am, the ‘Funky Crepe’ mobile catering trailer will sell a variety of breakfasts, inc’ filter coffee.
4) From 11.00 am to 5.30 pm on Saturday and Sunday, there will be a café run by ‘OrganicArts’ www.organicarts.org.uk
5) From 5.30 pm to 8.30 pm on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights, you will be able to buy a reasonably priced and tasty vegetarian meal (there will also be a vegan option available) and a variety of crepes at the ‘Funky Crepe’ mobile catering trailer.  
6) Don’t worry if you arrive late or are late eaters because you will be able to buy wholesome, hot soup and a roll at the Bar until closing time. 
7) In the local village (½ m or ¾ km) there is a community owned shop that’s run by volunteers.

What else?
You can not bring your dog/s with you. There are three very friendly farm dogs for your children to throw sticks for (the farm dogs are used to coaches of excited school children arriving at the farm so don’t worry).
Andy the farmer is offering you the opportunity to extend your holiday up to the following Friday at £5.00 per adult per night. So instead of leaving on the Monday your family could stay for the week and use the farm as a base to explore Devon!  This is an amazing opportunity to have a great Summer break that beats the dreaded credit crunch!!!!!!!!!!

What to do next?
The gathering is limited to 250 people in total. The 250 is made up of every man, woman, child and baby, it also includes the people involved in organising the gathering, all the farm workers and all the local Steiner School families who come to the gathering but don’t camp). Out of these 250 places, I estimate that there will be about 100 places available for paying adult campers. So if you want to be campers then you’d better seriously think about booking early to avoid disappointment.
To book your places you will need to fill in the Booking slip and send it to Exeter Steiner School with either a cheque or postal order for the full amount. Make your cheque or postal order payable to ‘Exeter Steiner School’.
     Please note that; because we are limited to 250 people you will need to book your places even if you’re not camping.
If you have any queries then please contact Iain, either by phone on (01392) 811544 or by email at; iainatexetersteinerschool@phonecoop.coop

    Best wishes, the parents and friends of Exeter Steiner School

Send your booking slip to:

The Southwest Steiner Summer Gathering.
Exeter Steiner School
80 Merrivale Road
Exeter
EX4 1PT