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home » festivals » Glastonbury Festival » Glastonbury Festival 2002
The Kidz are alright!Glastonbury Festival 2002 reviewsTuesday 10th December 2002 Glastonbury was back and our kids were getting excited. They've been to 4 already, so I guess they are pretty much old hands. We camped in the Kidz Crew camping field again as we were working in the field, running the Book and Toy library. The field is a very chilled place, secure, but with loads of other kids for ours to get to know. The Kidz field is an oasis of peace and calm within the Festival – yeah RIGHT! Several hundred kids bent on pleasure, face painting and mashed potato makes it just a mad as anywhere else, but because of the heavily enforced SMILE OR ELSE rules, it's got a great atmosphere. The organisers spend a lot of time planning and preparing the field. You enter the field through a hand built Castle entrance, complete with Dragons, knight and damsel in distress. Flags and banners, wall painting and beautiful tents and awnings run all the way up to the main feature, The Helter Skelter. There are at least 3 shows running at any time stretching from 'Story Telling' to Magic, via TV's Bodger & Badger and caters from every taste.  The Helter Skelter is well run by Glasto regulars and for us the Festival is truly only over when they finally dismantle the tower on a Monday night. Although the queues can be long, they are well-behaved and self-policing, kids get really shirty at people who push in! Next to the Helter Skelter is the Play Fort and slide, which is a permanent feature, but gets a paint and spruce up every year. I’ve no idea what goes on inside as I’m too big, but the kids never want to leave! There’s a Hall of Mirrors, Swing Boats, Swings and obstacle courses, those round things u get strapped into and some sadist swings in you every direction, more swings and ditch slides, parachute games and loads of on field activities which will easily keep the kids and their parents amused for hours. The artist talent of face painters is incredible, turning my gap toothed 6 year old into an enchanted forest, complete with unicorn. Again the queues for their services are long, but well worth the wait. The Big Top features shows from many well know performers and although the shows can be a bit tiresome for adults (oh no they’re not!) the kids love seeing things live, with no adverts or hard sell. Now all this is FREE (apart from the café). Unless your kids are over 12 they don’t pay a penny! Think about it, can you think of ANYWHERE else on the planet that would do this? Don’t bother there isn’t. Various people whinge on that Mean Fiddler will destroy the festival, but as far as I’m concerned as long as the Kids field exists and is free the spirit of the Festival is safe and we are teaching our kids well (ok at least for 5 days a year ‘til they get back to “Mutant PokéDonald SCLUB” World. The Field is topped of by Bristol Playbus and the truly excellent small kids Book & Toy Library, where you can chill out with a book or a toy. There are kids events in the Green Fields and the Theatre and Circus fields are also very suitable for the little darlings. This year was the first that we took our kids out to some of the main arenas. This is a GOOD IDEA. They got right to the front for the Shibusashirazu Orchestra, had a dance to Dreadzone, had a laugh at all the adults singing along to Rolf Harris Emma (9): like, SO uncool dad! Dad (42) : Well that’s the point luv, err…its kind of nostalgic in an err… ironic post modern sense, err… kindofthing, anyway shutup and listen!, Emma: (9): hmmmmmm! Emma also got to the front of the Dance Tent for the Headliners Mis-Teeq worth millions of points in playground cred. Now, I’ve spent a long time at the dance tent in the 6 or so years it’s been around and I’ve never got within 100 yards of the front! Bloody Kids, but you try telling that to them, they won’t listen... OK, so you guessed it, our Glasto was a bit Kid centred, but we still managed to get out and about a bit at night when we got someone else to babysit, honest. The Green fields and stone circle were great, although the kids preferred the Dragon! review by Dik Naef photos by Neil Greenway 
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