As can be seen from looking at the background of The Gathering, the central focus is that it is a camp rather than a “festival”.  Our aim is to invite folk from all over the place to develop a community over a long weekend. We welcome pagans of all streams and traditions, who come with good hearts and intentions.  There is a definite feeling of a meeting of the Clans and long lasting friendships have been formed at The Gatherings.  Children play an important part of the community at The Gatherings and are welcome.  People who have been attending from the very beginning will remember Nina wandering round the second camp with Amber as a little baby of only a couple months old.  Amber is now a seasoned camper at the grand age of seven this year!  The environment we develop is a safe one for everyone, with everyone looking out for each other, making sure people are welcomed, looked after, sometimes fed and watered, lifts shared and so on.

 The atmosphere is relaxed and we intend to stick to our original concept of having a fairly informal camp.  Whilst there is a necessary structure to the organisational side of things, no-one is pressured into taking part in any activities, rather simply invited to those that interest them.  We invite people to offer workshops or performances at the camp, and we actively seek out folk who will add flavour, colour and interest to the proceedings.  Similarly, artists and craftspeople are invited to set up simple stalls to exhibit and sell.  We deliberately avoid mainstream commercial traders; rather we would like to encourage the smaller concerns.

 At every camp we hold a structured celebration on the Saturday evening to which everyone is invited. Input to the organising and choreographing of this is welcomed from anyone who is interested and the aim is to make it as inclusive as possible.  The energy raised by so many people with a common sense of purpose has to be experienced to be believed!

An important feature of the camp, too, is the support we give to Dorset Wildlife Rescue which is run by Nick and Sandi Ridge.  These two lovely people rescue, care for and release injured wild animals from all over Dorset.  We hold a raffle on the Sunday afternoon to help raise funds for the work these two do - and people are asked to donate anything they can as prizes.  And a tradition has formed - the final ticket holder gets the gnome for a year and a day!