SUMMER | FEATURE
• “ Every year Rob and Josie somehow gather a brilliant crew of people who manage the impossible - being gobsmackingly efficient , impressively professional and weirdly , very laidback . Nothing is ever too much trouble ; the festival is an absolute joy to work at .” – DJ and broadcaster Sara Cox .
• “ Congratulations on 15 years , it ’ s been a pleasure working with Rob and Josie and their team the last five years , looking forward to the next 15 ,” – Live Nation Entertainment UK & Ireland chairman Denis Desmond
• “ Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust has been involved in Camp Bestival since 2011 . It has been hugely important . This long-term support has been so crucial to both fundraising and being able to raise awareness of the Trust and the difference we make .” – Fundraising manager Lindsay Nehorai
• “ What I love about Camp Bestival is the family feel amongst the team , and the fact that Robby and Josie ’ s primary goal always seems to be making the event really beautiful , exciting and interesting . It ’ s the focus on the little things and surprise elements .” – Ginger Owl Productions co-founder Nancy Skipper
• " As a family business , we love helping Josie and Robby bring Camp Bestival to life , creating a festival full of magical moments ." – APL Event director Vicki Smith
• “ It ’ s fabulous to work with Rob , Josie and team at Camp Bestival . It ’ s always been a creative , great looking festival , so we delighted to supply stages to Weston Park in Shropshire .” – Serious Stages operations manager Abbey Thomas some considered a brave move so soon after the pandemic .
“ It was a calculated risk but Live Nation and everyone involved thought it was going to work ,” says Rob . “ There ’ s a huge number of festivalgoers that would think twice about driving six hours with their kids down to Dorset every year , but now we have this huge catchment area of people who can easily access the festival at Shropshire ’ s Weston Park .
“ I was a little bit nervous about who was going to turn up , and that wasn ’ t some snobby southern thing , I just
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didn ’ t know whether it would be the same audience , but it ’ s a very similar audience of people who share our love of the fun and the magic that we put on .”
With the Shropshire event having sold around 12,000 tickets last year , and it being set to shift 20,000 this year , the future looks bright for Camp Bestival and Rob is not ruling out a revival of the event that first got the ball rolling : “ Bestival was incredible for a number of years . It ’ s having a long break . Whether it will come back , I don ’ t know .”
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