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| Zsolt, first right, and the team of volunteers, building the Clown for the festival |
Madhurst volunteer project – August 2017
The
Madhurst project was the fourth volunteer project that I have co-ordinated in
the UK and I can certainly say that it was one of the most unique projects I
have seen so far. Madhurst is a project for those who have a creative mind and
love to create something unforgettable.
Madhurst
is a festival which lasts for almost two weeks and takes place every year in
August. It is based half an hour away from Chichester in lovely historical village
called Midhurst. Every year the international volunteers have to create a float
for the final day of this festival. Besides the creation of the float they also
help with various tasks like setting up venue for the visitors of the festival.
During
the first two days the volunteers had to help with a conservation project in
the South Downs national park. Due to this the first two days were quite
physical and tiring, however it was the perfect team building exercise as we
all got to know each other pretty well before we began working on the float
together. As we were so close to the nature we also went on some long walks in
the area which further helped the team to bond during the first couple of days
of the project. Nevertheless, by the end of the conservation project the volunteers
were fairly exhausted so this was the perfect time to have a day off.
After
the initial conservation project (and the well deserved break) the volunteers
began to build the float which was the main aim of this project and took almost
a week to complete. It was amazing to see how invested the volunteers were in
this task. On the first day after we went back to the accommodation they spent
at least another hour brainstorming their ideas about the float. They liked
this part of the project to the extent that they even stayed longer every day
in order to work-out every little detail on the clown perfectly. The fact that
the host was very flexible on the working hours made it even easier for the
team to work on their own speed.
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| Concordia Volunteers parading with the amazing Clown they designed and built |
It
was also lovely to see how well the volunteers got along with the locals. It
was clear to the volunteers that their work was appreciated by the people of
Midhurst. Although we did get quite exhausted by the end of the two weeks, I
really enjoyed co-ordinating this group and I think it was a good decision to
come back and co-ordinate another project for Concordia this year. What made
this project so perfect was the fact that every volunteer was able to
contribute towards the float by bringing their own ideas and sharing it with
the team. This also reflected in the free time that we spent together which
made the project even better.
(Zsolt Kulcsar, Concordia Group Coordinator, Madhurst, Summer 2018)
