You’re invited to the

Fossil Free UK Gathering 2018

From 23rd – 25th March 2018, we’re bringing together campaigners from across the UK for a weekend of Fossil Free workshops, discussions, strategy and fun.

Booking has now closed

For two days, people working on divestment and other campaigns taking on the fossil fuel industry will gather in a beautiful venue in the West Midlands to share ideas and skills, and to inspire each other for the year ahead.

By reflecting and learning from each other, we want to collectively set out a vision for climate justice, and figure out how divestment campaigning and anti-fossil fuel fights can help achieve it.

We also want to create space for the Fossil Free network to shape national campaigns going forward, and support everyone who attends to develop skills and understanding.

The gathering will be held at Ingestre Hall – a converted 17th century manor house in Staffordshire. There’s masses of space and we have sole use of the venue for the full weekend, so we can really make it our own. There are up to 100 spaces available at the gathering.

If you have any questions, get in touch with ellen@350.org.

2017 was a big year, bringing devastating climate impacts and political turmoil across the globe, but we also saw an explosion of activism and some major wins against the fossil fuel uindustry. It’s more important than ever that we come together as a movement to figure out how we can continue to take on the industry responsible for the climate crisis.

2018 will see the global relaunch of the Fossil Free campaign, bringing with it new opportunities to deepen, broaden and strengthen our movement. So now’s the perfect time to reflect on what’s working (and what’s not), and continue to build on successes.

Back in October 2016, we hosted a gathering bringing together 40 people from the divestment network to discuss and develop the campaign. Since then, the Fossil Free movement has grown and developed – we want this gathering to reflect this, and be bigger and better. Check out some photos from the last Fossil Free Gathering here.

We want this gathering to be open and accessible to all, no matter your skills and experience. We particularly welcome people who have faced barriers to participating in gatherings like ours in the past, whether because of background, economic resources, disability, race, age, gender or any other form of injustice and oppression.You should put the Fossil Free UK Gathering in your calendar if you are:

  • Part of a divestment campaign in your local council, workplace, university or faith group;
  • Working on other efforts to de-legitimise the fossil fuel industry like museum sponsorship campaigns;
  • Involved in efforts to cut off finance to fossil fuel projects like the Divest Barclays campaign;
  • Working on other fossil fuel resistance projects at a local level.

If you aren’t sure whether this gathering is for you, get in touch with ellen@350.org and we can chat.

We want to make this year’s gathering bigger, better and more accessible than last time. We’re asking that those who are able, pay a small fee of £10 per person to help fund the gathering and provide travel subsidies. Anyone who feels unable to pay doesn’t need to. This cost will stay the same whether you join for the full weekend or not, so we’d encourage you to join for as long as possible!

The gathering takes place over two days and two nights, and all overnight accommodation will be provided on site at Ingestre Hall. Sleep space will be in shared dormitories of 5-10 beds, please indicate your accommodation preferences in the registration form.

Accessible accommodation and private rooms are also available, please let us know if you have any access needs.

Food will be provided by the wonderful Veggies – a vegan, volunteer-led social enterprise based in the Midlands. They have over 30 years experience in vegetarian and vegan catering and I can assure you, the food is delicious! If you have any dietary requirements, let us know as soon as possible so we can accommodate them.

We encourage as many people as possible to travel to the gathering by public transport.

The nearest station is Stafford which is on direct train lines from Birmingham, London, Manchester, Bristol, Liverpool and more. Advance tickets can be relatively cheap so we strongly advise you book as soon as possible (an off-peak return from London is currently around £25).

Arrive anytime from 5pm on Friday (dinner will be provided) and the Gathering programme will end at 4pm on Sunday, so do book accordingly.

We will be offering a shuttle service from Stafford station to Ingestre Hall and back on Friday night and Sunday afternoon. Details of timings for this will be confirmed as soon as possible.

If you need to, travelling by car is also an option – there is plenty of parking space on site at the venue. If you’re thinking of travelling by car, do let us know and we will try to match you up with lift shares.

For those who need it, we are offering travel subsidies to keep costs down – travel should not be a barrier to anyone participating in the gathering. We can either pay part or all of your travel costs in advance, or offer reimbursement. Please do indicate in the registration form if this is something you might need and we’ll find the best way to help you out.

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