Mushrooming: A Mycelial Gathering
A fundraising event in conjunction with Redistro Bistro (Ulv Food Waste Project) including; Fantastic Fungi screening, DJs & live acts, yoga & forest therapy, fungi foray, nature connection workshops, craftivism, fireside musical jams & ridiculous dancing at a mycelial-inspired gathering at Rookhow, nestled in the beautiful Rusland valley, Ulverston.
Explore 12 acres of beautiful ancient woodland. Enjoy tasty hot grub created from surplus foodstuffs.
All with the intention to enhance our connection with nature, build community, and support Redistro Bistro & Mycelium Thinking’s future aims and dreams.
Day tickets with & without accommodation. Full weekend tickets.
Tickets are limited. This will be a small event, only 30 allowed on site at one time. 20% discount code for anyone in financial difficulty.
Click here to book your ticket through Trybooking.
Day 1 – Friday 5 November, 5 till late
Welcome, 5 – 6.30
Meet-up and have a chat before the evening activities. Enjoy a tasty hot meal made from surplus food saved by Redistro Bistro (Ulverston Food Waste Project).
Short Talks, 6.30 – 7
15-minute presentations from ourselves Mycelium Thinking CIC & Redistro Bistro. Learn about our stories, current services, and our hopes for the future.
Film Screening, 7 – 8.30
Our projectionist will cast the immensely beautiful film ‘Fantastic Fungi’ across the wall of the historic meeting house.
“A time-lapse journey about the magical, mysterious and medicinal world of fungi and their power to heal, sustain and contribute to the regeneration of life on Earth that began 3.5 billion years ago.”
100% Critic, 94% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.
Bonfire Night, 8.30 till late
The Rookhow woodlands will undergo a bonfire night transformation. By evening it will be lit-up with metres and metres of multi-coloured festoon lighting, as well as whimsical decorations by Jennie Dennett, which will guide our way to the campfire for evening session.
Including Musical Workshop
We’ll gather around the woodland campfire for a playful percussive session with Amy Boud.
“Amy Boud is an experienced outdoor practitioner, musician and ecology graduate. She founded Playful Nature in 2011 to offer local people opportunities to connect with each other, their own creative selves, and the world around them. Using sensory awareness and exploration, singing, drumming, and campfire gatherings, she hopes to bring a sense of joy and wonder to people of all ages. And to foster health and wellbeing, and celebration of life on this amazing planet we call home.”
And, Circus Jam
There will also be an opportunity throughout the night for people to have a go at hooping, with tips and tricks supported by Linden (Redistro).
Day 2 – Saturday November 6, 9.30am till late
Breakfast buffet, 9.30 – 10.15
Opportunity to meet-up and chat before the activities for the day. Breakfast buffet provided by Redistro Bistro.
Opening session, meeting house, 10.15 – 11.00
Rema (pronounced R-emma) will outline and set-up the day with a special ‘mushrooming’ session – involving a reading, reflective writing activity, and a guided movement visualisation inspired by mycelial networks, play, and personal growth.
“Rema is creative director of Mycelium Thinking CIC. A carer, indie author, eternal student of something, & fungi fanatic. She’s passionate about creativity, mycelial networks, and environmental//mental well-being. She’s just completed a MA in creative writing (focusing on mental health, nature & environmental communication) & is now studying outdoor learning, health & well-being at University of Cumbria. Her soft debut as an indie author & micro publisher is currently out to print.”
Fun and accessible yoga, 11 – 12
Don’t worry, you won’t have to bend into a pretzel! Yoga by Kirsty Frame encourages intuition and going with the flow of what feels right for you body. A very gentle session which will involve easy movements, yoga flow dance, and breath work.
“Kirsty is accredited by the IYN, she trained through the Sensible School of Yoga. She’s now a yoga teacher from Ulverston. The movement she teaches in yoga is sensible, functional and gentle, allowing plenty of time and space to tune into the intelligence of your body and move in a way which can help with general daily movement. She also teaches breath work and meditation.”
Forest Therapy & Traditional Fire-lighting, 12 – 1.30
Bex from Bee:Wild At Heart will be taking us out from the meeting house on a mindful walk into the woodlands (barefoot is optional but encouraged). We’ll work as teams to start and build the two campfires in the woodlands using fun traditional techniques.
Picnic in the woods, 1.30 – 2
We’ll gather around the campfires for a cosy picnic in the woods. There will be light snacks.
This is the only meal not fully provided, please make sure you bring a pack lunch ready.
Woodland Musical Workshop, 2 – 3
Amy Boud will run a woodland inspired session. We will do some listening exercises to tune into the forest environment and seek inspiration for creating our own music.
“Amy Boud is an experienced outdoor practitioner, musician and ecology graduate. She founded Playful Nature in 2011 to offer local people opportunities to connect with each other, their own creative selves, and the world around them…she hopes to bring a sense of joy and wonder to people of all ages. And to foster health and wellbeing, and celebration of life on this amazing planet we call home.”
Fungi Foray, 3 – 4
We will encourage an informal exploration of the general vicinity of the campfires before leading everyone back towards the meeting house. Both of us will dispel any fungi related myths and share our knowledge on the basics of foraging & identification (books will be available in the meeting house for anything we are unable to identify).
Mushrooming Session 2, meeting house, 4 – 6
A mostly self-directed session to close the day of workshops, facilitated by Rema and Kirsty Frame. Together we will create simple mushrooms made from recycled, found & foraged materials.
You will be assisted in adding a preferred form of writing on the back (inspired by the days activities), and in decorating the front side with a collage inspired by your own words. These will reflect the overall theme of ‘mushrooming’ and personal growth.
Our mushrooms will be hung along the side of the room to form a communal gallery. There will be a (non-compulsory) opportunity for everyone to share their words and thoughts during the later open performance session.
Everyone is creative and has something unique to express. This session will be accessible to all. We really don’t care much about artistic talent!
Shared Dinner, 6 – 7
Reflect on the day and have a chat before the evening sessions. Enjoy a tasty hot meal made from surplus food saved by Redistro Bistro (Ulverston Food Waste Project).
Short Talks, 7-7.30
15-minute presentations from ourselves Mycelium Thinking CIC & Redistro Bistro. Learn about our stories, current services, and our hopes for the future.
Mycelium Thinking’s Guided Visualisation Journey, 7.30 – 8.15
Dave and Rema will perform their ‘guided visualisation journey of mycelial madness.’
“Dave Crossley is project manager of MT, he’s a fungi & nature lovin master of mirth and bringer of festivities…he’s been manifesting next level events for two decades and spinning tunes on the stages of some of the finest festivals such as Solfest, Kendal Calling, Beatherder, and even Glastonbury. He’s founder & director of ‘Another Fine Fest’ alongside a myriad of other fantastical soirees.”
Their journey is a wacky, immersive and interactive experience which blends together Rema’s creative writing & singing skills with Dave’s musical ear for a next level soundtrack and love of wordsmithery.
Collective performance//open mic, 8.15 – 9.15
A big finale to our ‘mushrooming’ sessions before the night of music. A combination of gallery, spoken word, music and singing. An opportunity, and much encouragement, for everyone to feel empowered & confident to share their mycelial creations, words and/or thoughts in whatever form.
Stephanie Finegan, 9.15 – 10.15
We’re so excited for Stephanie Finegan to be opening the stage for our Saturday night of live music & dancing. She absolutely owns the stage, such a mycelial, playful, and bizarre energy – the best kinda weird we’ve ever seen.
Stephanie’s work was described by Chinwag Poetry as “Allen Ginsberg’s Howl combined with the feminine power of Kate Bush. A wonderful mix of psychedelic stream of consciousness, urban punk, post beat poetry, psycho-metaphysics with a bit of Zen thrown in for good fun. A lexical ensemble of wonderful diversity, shot through with eclectic imagery and electric metaphors.”
“Grounded and unbound, with as many vocal tones as there are corners of the soul, multi-instrumentalist and lyrical tour de force, Stephanie Finegan is an artist of effortless originality. She transcends acoustic singer-songwriter, electronica, hip hop and slam poetry seamlessly. Her art is an adventure through the forest of the heart.” Louder Than War 2020
DJs, 10.15 till late
We’ll finish the weekend off with an evening of dancing soundtracked by Mister Monster, Homegrown, and Robin Walker (Fallback Productions).
🌿Fundraising🌿
All proceeds will go to our not-for-profit community groups and help us in achieving our aims to support environmental//mental well-being.
Site & accommodation FAQs
For some further information regarding what you may need to bring, site info & accommodation: https://rookhow.org.uk/accommodation
We hope this all sounds exciting! The link above covers all the crucial information about the site, but we will further update ticket holders via event page and email with additional FAQs closer to the event, in the meantime feel free to post any questions on our CAP26 event page, or send us a Facebook message.
Mush-love from us. We hope to see you this weekend🍄👇
https://www.trybooking.co.uk/BHJJ
I’ve only just seen this. I would have loved to join.
Please inform me of any future events. I would love to attend 🙂