HESFES 2011 at Rougham Airfield

In January 2011 a parent asked the Always Learning discussion group where families interested in unschooling could meet in the UK. A reply linked directly to this address and pointed the reader towards Bury St Edmunds. By March, the festival notice in Education Otherwise had named the venue and dates as Rougham Airfield, Saturday 23 to Saturday 30 July.

Seven nights at the airfield

The March notice described twelve marquees and three stages. Families could camp for a week, and admission covered workshops and site facilities. People living nearer the airfield also had the option of a day or an overnight visit. There were cafés, a cinema, somewhere for toddlers to play and a tent for teenagers.

The original welcome page, preserved on 20 July, also records the final days before the festival opened. Postal booking had finished, a few advance tickets were still available online and late bookers would collect theirs on arrival. The organisers specifically welcomed caravans, campervans and yurts alongside tents.

An afternoon on the field

A parent who visited for the day recalled the sound of hammers shaping copper, a weaving group and accordion players getting ready for a performance. One of the science attractions was Mr Robinson’s compressed history of the universe. Parents found time between activities to compare experiences of home education, from textbooks to how their children might obtain qualifications.

The advance listings also advertised beekeeping, film-making, singing and an edible-plants walk. They help fill out the programme beyond the particular things this visitor saw. For other years in Suffolk, explore the 2012 gathering at Stonham Barns and the 2014 festival.