Festival Spirit charity calls for more disability assistance

Music festivals need to do more to provide access to people with disabilities, a charity has said.

Oxfordshire charity Festival Spirit helps people with life-limiting conditions and disabilities to experience live music events.

The group provides a safe space in campsites and help getting around festival sites.

Trustee Steve Clark said people with disabilities still felt "excluded" from outdoor festivals.

The idea for the charity began in 2010 when Mr Clarke took a group from a local hospice to the Womad festival.

"We made a lot of mistakes, we had a lot of fun and there was a huge warmth throughout the weekend - we called it the festival spirit," he said.

The Drayton-based charity most recently took a team of 20 carers and "buddies" along with a tent and equipment such as hoists and airbeds to Wilderness.

Mr Clark said there should not be any barriers for people who use a wheelchair or need hoisting equipment in enjoying such events.

"It's not simply about ticking off a list that says 'yes I've provided so many accessible loos, so many accessible showers and a viewing platform for the main stage'"

"That's great but it doesn't go far enough."

"There is a whole section of society who are excluded currently from festivals and most festivals just don't get that" he said.

Wheelchair user Moray Cook, 46 from Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire, said people with disabilities should not be "daunted" about attending festivals.

He was helped by Festival Spirit while attending Wilderness in Cornbury Park near Chalbury earlier this month.

Tetraplegic Mr Cook had a spinal cord injury in 1999 and needs a wheelchair to get around, a hoist in and out of bed and full-time carers to support him.

"You have to be prepared to rough it at festivals, but thanks to organisations like Festival Spirit, the experience is getting better and better.

"People with disabilities and life-limiting conditions, like me, shouldn't feel scared to go to a festival.

"There are always people on hand, a buddies to help if you get your wheelchair stuck in the muddy fields" he said.

The charity is in talks with other festivals, including Latitude in Suffolk, to establish a presence at future events.

Mr Clarke added: "For us we are passionate about inclusion, inclusivity for us is a mindset, it's about wanting people who couldn't otherwise get to a festival to be there."

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