HESFES 2000 at Charmouth

A February advert invited families to bring a tent, caravan or campervan to the third Home Educators’ Seaside Festival. It offered a family rate of £65. The American educator Jerry Mintz later wrote an account of his visit to the campsite near Charmouth, where the sea was a short walk away.

A temporary village

Mintz described neighbouring groups of tents forming across several fields. A larger tent provided a gathering space for presentations, while a group called the Anarchist Teapot served vegan food. Adults who wanted to hear a talk and children practising circus skills could spend the same afternoon at the festival in quite different ways.

Children making decisions

One of Mintz’s interests was democratic education. His report, Impromptu Democracy, describes the festival partly through the meetings he took part in. As a personal account it captures a visitor’s questions, observations and conversations at a particular moment.

The festival advert gave the dates as 14–21 May 2000. Mintz’s published report has June in its heading, but the same publisher’s catalogue dates the recording of the meeting to May. The contemporary advert and the catalogue therefore agree on the month.