After the excitement that was Rebel Fest in the summer, I was enthusiastic when another event was planned, this time for the winter. The second Rebel Fest took place over the first weekend in December, and was every bit as much fun as the first.
Admittedly, I didn’t join the general chat sessions arranged for the first thing in the morning on both Saturday and Sunday. I’m really not a morning person, but I did turn up for the morning exercise sessions, which were a great way to blow away the cobwebs and get set up for the rest of the day.
The session on Saturday was Drum and Bounce with Emma, who also led a session at the first Big Rebel Meet Up in Reading. I knew what to expect, but it was still great fun. Next we had a talk about dinosaurs from Dr Joseph Bonsor. This was fascinating and made me want to start my Palaeontology badge! After that, we had another fun sign language lesson from Penny and Karen of Vision Signing Choir, this time learning to sign Mariah Carey’s ‘All I Want For Christmas’.
After a break for lunch, we had a science experiment session with Ruth Amos. I didn’t get a chance to gather all the ingredients, but I made notes and will definitely be giving these a go in the future. Experiments included chocolate welding, drawing robots and celebration cannons and seemed like loads of fun.
Next, we had a Patrol break out session, in which we had to try and make the face of our Patrol leader out of whatever we had to hand. I had a go at making Rosa Parks’ face out of acrylic earrings, which didn’t really go that well! Following this, we had a wreath-making session with Charly. I managed to get a wire frame for this but ran out of time to get everything else, so I improvised with some green ribbon and a selection of festive brooches.
After a break, we had a talk by Paralympian athlete Claire Cashmore, who was a brilliant speaker and incredibly inspiring. After a Bronze Maverick presentation, we had another cocktail making session with Tom and Crystal, followed by a chat room to end the day.
Sunday began with a Rock Fit session hosted by Carli. This certainly helped to energise me for the rest of the day, even if I couldn’t quite manage all the moves! We then had a talk on beekeeping from Colin. I had no idea just how fascinating bees are.
The third class of the day was a baking session with Allegra, who ran a successful Challah bread class in the last Rebel Fest. This session involved the creation of an Apple & Cinnamon Cake, which I didn’t make (again I ran out of time to buy the necessary ingredients) but I definitely plan to in the future, as it looked yummy.
After lunch, we had a talk from Sarah Graham, author of the book Rebel Bodies. I haven’t yet read the book, but it sounds fascinating, judging by Sarah’s talk. I missed the breakout room session which came next, as I hadn’t read the book, opting to carry on with my crochet project instead.
I joined in once again for the next session, Laughter Yoga with Alison. Honestly, I don’t know if laughter yoga is my thing but it was good to try something new and all respect to Alison for encouraging us.
After another break, we had a ‘bakeineering’ talk from Bake Off’s Andrew Smyth, who discussed his great loves, baking and engineering, and how he likes to combine them. The talk was fascinating and included the making of honeycomb – again I didn’t manage to get the ingredients in advance, but I will definitely be trying this later!
Finally, we had a pub quiz with Toby. It was great fun, but incredibly hard – I was pleased with my score, though it was nowhere near the highest achieved!
A final chat followed to round off the weekend, and then I went to bed – exhausted, but having enjoyed another brilliant Rebel Fest.