No one will protect what they don’t care about, and no one will care about what they have never experienced

“The childhood I had was wonderful and without knowing it, I built this relationship with the natural world – the smells, the feelings and the ability to light fires and make dens. My favourite memories were being outside and free, it was a wonderful time.”

Middle aged men have the highest rates of suicide than any age or gender group, with men reporting feelings of isolation, embarrassment, shame and a sense of burden on others.

We’re living in an experience we have no connection with! We dismiss our thoughts, our feelings, our senses and our intuition. Whilst externally, we discard the land, our water, wildlife and in more recent times even each other. We spend our days in sterile boxes, hunched over, tethered to a screen, participating in a lie in which we are being social, productive, and prosperous. While in the process, life is secretly stolen away from us.

We recognise now that mass industrialisation and mass agriculture has caused huge problems for the land and sea. Species have disappeared. Soil has become depleted. Pollution has been shown to have devastating consequences. The effects of climate change are starting to become tangible.

Beccy Mccray said the aim of the festival was “to ease us out of lockdown and back into the open air; connecting people, trees and nature through creativity.

“No one will protect what they do not care about: and no one will care about what they’ve never experienced” – Sir David Attenborough

Rewilding is a term often used to describe the reintroduction of plant and animal species to their natural habitats.

As we tentatively start to spend more time outside, let’s take this opportunity to reconnect with nature and enjoy the towns wonderful natural spaces.