A joyous non-residential weekend gathering of singers in the Borrowdale Valley, with Dave Camlin and Rachael Wadey, reviving the spirit of Fellowship of Hill and Wind and Sunshine for a singing picnic on International Day of Peace.

With the Borrowdale Institute in the heart of the valley for our base, we will have two days of singing together led by Dave and Rachael, including an outdoor singing adventure on the Sunday, hiking to Peace How for a public singing picnic, and possibly also taking in Castle Crag, one of the war memorial summits.

Singers on Castle Crag

Our collective approach to singing is very inclusive, with a shared belief in singing as a birth-right, whatever your previous experience. The focus of the weekend will be about using our voices to HAVE FUN in nature!

We also want to revive a song that was the focus of a mountain-top singing project in 2018, the Fellowship of Hill and Wind and Sunshine, and we’d love you to be familiar with the song beforehand. Here’s a video of the song being performed on Great Gable:

and here’s another short video with more infomation about the original project:

You can find scores and MP3 recording to help you learn / remember the song here:

We’ll teach other songs mainly by ear, so no need to be able to read music, although scores may be available for some things if you find them helpful.

We want everyone who shows up to feel part of a strong (albeit temporary) singing community, and to use the experience of singing together in nature as a resource to sustain and nurture us in the busy-ness of our everday lives.

The weekend is non-residential in the sense of sorting yourself out with somewhere to stay. Borrowdale has lots of lovely campsites, two youth hostels, plenty of BnBs and some majestic hotels - choose your own level of comfort! Hot drinks and snacks will be provided, but make your own arrangements for meals, or bring food to share with others, Jacob’s Join style.

How much hiking is involved?

We’re not planning any strenuous summit hikes, but the afternoon wild singing walks are likely to be between 3 and 6 miles with some ascents, so you need to be reasonably fit. We'll travel like a wolf pack, with our strongest walkers leading from the back, so no-one gets left behind!

We’re delighted to be joined by mountain leader / photographer Nick Landells and his team to look after us while out hiking, with trips planned to sing at some amazing spots in the Borrowdale valley, we’re not short of amazing places to visit!

Schedule

tbc

 
 

Meet the Leaders

Dave Camlin

is an award-winning singer / composer / educator / researcher who leads community choirs in west Cumbria including Sing Owt! and Wild Chorus. He's a native west Cumbrian who leads lots of outdoor singing events and projects, and who loves introducing people to songs which celebrate our relationship with the natural world. He’s also one of the organisers of the Cumberlandia folk weekend.

Rachael Wadey

Rachael Wadey leads Kendal’s Fellside Singers - a group who sing to bring connection and joy and who perform with a repertoire of folk, traditional and contemporary songs. After many years as a primary school teacher, she now runs Growing Singing CIC with Clare Elleray Mee. They lead workshops, weekly drop in sessions and a community choir, The Growing Singers, who perform and fundraise locally. She loves to perform as part of a quartet called Pandora’s Handbag, a group of friends who love to chat, snack and drink tea as well as sing beautiful harmonies!

What to Bring?

  • your voice in whatever state you find it

  • sense of fun

  • waterproofs and suitable footwear (we won’t be going anywhere particularly high, but it can still get soggy in the valley…)

  • camping seat

  • water bottle

  • personal snacks

  • packed lunches or food to share

  • midge repellant

  • suntan lotion

Where to Stay?

The Borrowdale valley is full of lovely places to stay. Our favourite campsite is nearby Stonethwaite, which is unfortunately closed this year. Other nearby campsites include Chapel House Farm (don’t tell them you’re part of a group or they may refuse your booking!), as well as hotels in Rosthwaite, Seatoller, and of course in Keswick, which is about 6 miles away.

Parking

Rosthwaite is a very small hamlet, and the Borrowdale valley itself is a busy tourist spot, so it can get busy. We have reserved parking outside the venue for a few cars (for £6 a day), and there is a National Trust car park right next to the venue. If you are a NT member, bring your membership card for free parking! If those car parks are full, it will mean finding somewhere back on the main road to park and walking back to the venue, but you can unload any bags if you need to do that. If you’re travelling from a camspite with other people also on the weekend, it would be great to car share if you can, to minmise pressure on the car parks. The earlier you get to the NT car park, the more likely there will be a space.

Keeping Everyone Safe

Please don’t attend if you have COVID or have untested symptoms which could be COVID. We’ll refund your ticket, but no-one will thank you for bringing the lurgy into our midst, so please stay away!

Please also keep any medical details that would be helpful in an emergency easily accessible. For example, if you have a folder for any song lyrics, put any medical information a page of A4 at the front of the folder. If you have a smartphone, you can add medical information to your ‘lock screen’ - anything about yourself which you think might be important to know by people who give you emergency treatment:

  • On an iPhone use the ‘Health’ app to do this.

  • On an Android device, open Settings and select Safety and emergency. Select “Medical info” to add