Towards the end of August we did four days at Sunrise Off-Grid, a new small Green festival in Somerset. We'd originally been intending to run Children's Generators on alternate days with workshop sessions in between. In the end we actually did more generator sessions at the demand of an enthusiastic crowd of small children, though one good LED windmill got built in between as well. The bubble machine almost never stopped, and in the mornings kids were turning up outside asking for the pedal powered Gameboy. The people with the nice horsebox next door were operating this excellent human powered roundabout. Other interesting exhibits at the event included an amazing pink milk float from Bath carrying a printing press with trays of type, and a pedal power demonstration with a bicycle stand made from a considerable amount of scrap wood.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

On 14th August we set up some Children's Pedal Generators in Bracknell town centre to help with a fundraiser for Youthline. We'd originally been planning to use the mp3 DJ system but there were objections to the possible sound level, so we set up some smaller children's generators with a bubble machine and pedal powered piano, but some teenagers seemed to appreciate them as well.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Kirtlington Village Fete on 11th July came at the end of our early Summer rush of events. As usual for Oxfordshire it was a very nice location. The weather looked uncertain but was much better than the forecast with only one brief shower which at least justified building the rain shelter out of nasty blue plastic tarpaulin. There was a brisk wind, ideal for distributing the bubbles from the pedal powered bubble machine across the green, but a bit of a struggle for the binliner monster.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

On 27th June we ran the mp3 DJ System at Bracknell Big Day Out at South Hill Park. Some students at Bulmershe School in Reading had made a graffiti backdrop specially for the event. During the afternoon it was too hot for heavy pedalling but we were able to run full volume directly from a 50W Solar Panel. Later we were back to pedal powered DJ'ing including a short session by a couple of the graffiti artists.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

On 20th June we were at a Climate Change event in Chesham, another opportunity to use the wheelchair carrier vehicle to demonstrate getting three pedal generators and a stall onto the site without bringing the vehicle in. As usual there was plenty of interest in the various pedal powered piano keyboards, Nintendo games and the mp3 Booster.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

On 14th June we did another event to support a local environmental group, this time our local Friends of The Earth group who had a stand at the Royal Military Academy's Heritage Day at Sandhurst. The site there is amazing, there's all sorts of diverse wildlife including many different species of waterfowl on the large lake. The location by the boathouse was sheltered enough for the binliner monster to go well, and the pedal powered bubble machine was going flat out all day
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

On 13th June we set up some Children's Pedal Generators to promote Warfield Environment Group at Warfield Village Fete. The mp3 Booster was going well and wind conditions were good for the inflatable binliner monster. The weather was much better than the previous weekend and later things got quite busy.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Reading Forbury Fever on 6th June World Environment Day didn't have such good weather as the start of the Children's Festival. In fact it rained all day. Having insisted in not taking a vehicle into the Forbury Gardens, I first brought in a rain cover on a sack trolley and put it up before wheeling in the pedal generators and the mp3 DJ system on its own wheels. It didn't take long to assemble the system and we were running music a few minutes early as well as announcing the start of the event over the microphone. I'd deliberately set up the rain cover at the back of our pitch with the idea that if the rain stopped we could quickly wheel everything forward to make it more visible, but the opportunity never happened. For the first part of the day the system was powered almost entirely by the kids from the Chan-Cham Sri Lanka food stall next door. As the day went on more people came into the park - at one point we almost had a queue for the generators; they all got to have a go including the one with a broken leg. At the end the food stall still had some unsold stock, and encouraged by some free samples we over-ran the official end of the event by about 35 minutes, still managing to pack away and trailer the equipment and cover without getting our vehicle locked into the provided parking. Although the event would have gone better with better weather, it was good to prove we could still move and set up the equipment without damage in those conditions without bringing in a motor vehicle.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

On 9th May we did a full set of Children's Pedal Generators for Meadow Madness at the start of Reading Council Children's Festival. it was the first outing for our latest generator using the hub motor from an electric bicycle in the frame from a small kids bike. Although it was quite windy for most of the day, we managed to operate a couple of inflatable binliner monsters for a while. The mp3 Booster went well running from the new generator. It's quite small but the 300 Watt electric bike hub has got plenty of output capability - more than a person can produce at any rate. The old favourite the bubble machine was getting plenty of use as well.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

During April we ran some test sessions with the new direct pedal power mp3 DJ System. It had only just been built built during February as the latest development of our smaller mp3 boosters.
The new one can run at up to 60 Watts driven by two pedal generators with a DJ mixer so that two mp3's can be used instead of decks and mic inputs for spoken word or hip-hop. We set it up in Bracknell town centre as part of the Urban Generation project. It was so popular they wanted it back the next day as well, but the notice was too short and they had to make do with an earlier mp3 booster for their street dance.
A couple of days later after some minor modifications including an umbrella mount, we ran it again at South Hill Park. The weather was ideal and we were able to add in solar assistance to the pedal generators.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

On 17th March we did a really nice outdoor event at Bedgebury Pinetum in the middle of Kent for Kent High Weald Project. It's an enormous park with every sort of pine tree and a lake with ducks and a visitor centre. Primary school pupils from three schools were bussed in for demonstrations of sustainability including the centre's own wood fired heat and power plant, and pedal generators from us and South East Alternative Science Network. Our 4 metre wingspan hedgecutter beaked mosquito looked quite at home in the old walled garden where we were set up. As usual, we couldn't take any pictures of the school kids, but we were assigned a group of helpers from Skinners School nearby who were also very enthusiastic about the pedal generators. The bubble machine and pedal piano were popular, as well as the Simpsons driving game on the Nintendo Gameboy
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

The first public event of 2009 was for Sustainable Charlbury at a 'Bring And Take' day organised by Charlbury Waste Action www.cwag.org.uk  in the village hall. It's like a jumble sale except without money - people just bring stuff they don't want any more and other people come and take away anything they fancy. Obviously there's a certain amount of total rubbish left over at the end, but it did seem to work quite well and we rescued an old electric typewriter for recycling.
It was a good opportunity to try out the pedestrian trailer in our new vehicle which allows it to roll straight in without unloading.