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SAS @ The Greenest Ever Boardmasters

August 2015 marks the 15th anniversary of our partnership with the Boardmasters Festival and each year this relationship has strengthened and grown. However this year heralds a huge step change in this relationship and how we view and manage the impact that Boardmasters has on the precious Cornish coastal environment, a change that begins with the creation of the ‘Greenest Ever Boardmasters’ guide.

It’s no secret that festivals can have a huge negative impact upon our environment and we are under no illusions that Boardmasters is any different (YET!). In fact the havoc that Ex-Hurricane Bertha wrought upon Newquay during the night of Saturday the 9th of August 2014 (causing all festival activities to be cancelled) served as a wake-up call for us all. The vast amounts of litter strewn for miles across this precious landscape by Bertha was a visible reminder that we simply weren’t doing enough to protect this precious environment.

So with this firmly in mind SAS and Boardmasters are delighted to launch the ‘Green Boardmasters Guide’. Created to ensure that this year’s festival is the ‘Greenest Ever’*, it maps out initiatives that will target and mitigate some of the major categories of environmental impacts resulting from live events and encourage positive behaviour change among festival goers, such as;

  • Integrated ‘Green Thinking’ – The creation of new environmental management structure, plans and emergency procedures alter the entire ethos of the festival.
  • Festival Community Engagement – Through positive, achievable initiatives we’re asking festival goers to think about their impact upon this beautiful place.
  • Waste management & recycling –  From the introduction of fantastic Cup Deposit Scheme, the availability of refillable water Bottles & water points to a drastically up scaled recycling & composting scheme and our Big Boardmasters Beach Clean on Saturday, we’re targeting a huge reduction in the waste created and litter!
  • Protecting water quality and the local environment – By making festival goers even more aware than ever of SAS initiatives such as Think Before You Flush and The Safer Seas Service we will minimise the impact upon water quality in the Newquay area.
  • Climate change – Transportation & Energy Consumption –  We’ve created a series of great initiatives that promote more sustainable modes of transport to, from and around the festival such as; Liftshare, The Big Green Coach Company and Yellow Bike Hire.
  • * SAS and Boardmasters are fully aware that these measures will not completely solve the negative environmental impacts of the Boardmasters Festival in 2015. However we are certain that it’s a great start and we intend to improve each year until we get it 100% right so please do your bit to help us achieve this aim!

We’ve worked really hard to make sure that there doesn’t have to be a trade-off between having a great time and protecting the stunning Cornish coastline. By taking the simple individual and collective actions not only will you be protecting this precious environment but also making Boardmasters a cleaner and more enjoyable place for you and your friends. Speaking of fun! Check out our ‘SAS @ Boardmasters Programme’ below…………

SAS @ Boardmasters Programme

Taking Place Daily at the SAS Tent

  • 10:00 – 12:00 – SAS Breakfast Club – Ocean Film Screenings, as a relaxed start to the day we will be bringing back our Breakfast Club with some amazing films from the Ocean Film Festival UK, such as “And Then We Swam” and “Riders To The Sea” and the amazing “North of the Sun”.
  • 12:00 – 12:30 – SAS’s Cleaner Coastal Catchments Interactive Session – Join the SAS campaigns and education team for an interactive talk on their new campaign to protect Newquay’s precious coastal environment.
  • 12:30 – 13:30 Marine Litter Photography Exhibition – Meet the hugely talented Mat Arney as he discusses the inspiration behind his series of hauntingly beautiful images highlighting the issues of marine litter on the North Cornish coast.
  • 13:30 – 15:00 – SAS Marine Litter Monsters Art Workshops – Strictly for Mini-Boardmasters! Youngsters will learn about how marine litter is harming their beaches and wildlife via an interactive, noisy, messy, adventurous education show before working with our amazing artists to create their own ‘Marine Litter Monsters’ in a free art workshop.
  • 15:30 – 17:00 – Meet the Pros – Meet multiple Boardmasters champion Ben ‘Skin Dog’ Skinner, local hero Alan Stokes and Celine Gehret as well as some amazing up and coming young rippers at the SAS tent for an SAS Marine Litter Tattoo postcard signing. (NB: This is subject to change due to the competition so please check at the SAS tent).

All Day Activities – 10:00 – 17:00

  • SAS @ Boardmasters Raffle – Win exclusive prizes!
  • SAS Membership Recruitment – Join SAS for just £3 a month and get an exclusive free T-shirt!
  • SAS Shop – Join as an SAS member or buy 10 raffle tickets for a £5 shop voucher!

Amazing One Off Activities!

  • Big Fistral Beach Clean – Saturday 08:30 – 10:30am – ‘Secret Gig Wristbands’ for the first 100 volunteers. Join SAS on Fistral Beach at 08.30am for the Big Fistral Beach Clean. Give a little of your time to help keep this stunning beach clean before having an epic Saturday at Boardmasters. SIGN UP HERE!
  • Saturday – Secret SAS Gig – 13:00 at Watergate– Just done the Big Beach Clean? Got your Secret Gig Wristband?? Well go and get on that big red bus at the top of the hill and go and rock out with the some really special guests at the Boardmasters Watergate arena.
  • Indie Kitchen Sunday Session – Sunday at 15:00 at the SAS tent, join the SAS team for exclusive performances from incredible musicians.
  • SAS @ Boardmasters Raffle Draw – Sunday at 16:00 at the SAS tent.

So please do come and say “hi” at our tent at Fistral, keep an eye out for our Reps and Lead Volunteers who’ll be asking you to sign a petition calling for a 50% reduction in UK beach litter by 2020 and get involved with the Boardmasters Green Teams who’ll be dishing out ‘Keeping It Green’ tips and handfuls of good old fashioned bin liners.

Here’s to our ‘Greenest Ever Boardmasters’!