Scarborough

Three different perspectives, all from young people, on Change of Time IV, the Bahá’í National Festival, held in Scarborough from 5th to 7th November, from Matt Morrissey, Josh Hughes, and Sonya Sier
 

Matt starts ...

On the weekend of the 5th–7th November thousands of Bahá’ís descended on the unsuspecting coastal town of Scarborough once again for the UK National Bahá’í Festival. This years’ festival, the fourth in the ‘A Changing of Time’ series was entitled ‘Arising to Serve’. Unsurprisingly, the overall theme of the festival was arising to serve the Cause. Aside from the usual attractions of such events, seeing friends, getting away from uni, etc., this year was special. The programme was so good it actually would have been worth going if I had no friends, and that could be a very real possibility some day.

Among the highlights were performances based on the lives of heroes of the Faith, such as Charles Dunning and Lua Getsinger. The Ruhi experience, which required tickets, was not to be missed I was told. Unfortunately I did miss is, but I can tell you that I was severely chastised by starry-eyed chums for doing so. Inspiration was provided by talks from Fidelma Meehan and Councillor Shirin Fozdar-Foroudi, among others. And who could resist the extremely Persian ‘World Café’?

There are so many reasons why this Scarborough conference was the best ever. For one, everything oozed professionalism and slickness. The venue itself, the speakers, and the many animated presentations were all top class. Makes a nice change from the old overhead projector and CD player combo. There was also a lot more focus on the Arts this year, with various performances from Bahá’í musicians, singers and actors. I’m still stunned at the talent and enthusiasm exhibited. It were proper bo! Most were also duly impressed that the talks and presentations had been kept short, sharp and sweet. As my inside sources later revealed, this was a conscious effort to stop people getting bored. It actually worked. I can honestly say this year I went to almost all of the sessions.

However, the jewel in Scarborough’s crown, in my humble opinion, was that for the first year the presence of the Scottish Community was truly felt. This included the thespian skills of Sonya Sier, yours truly, Laura Hemmati, and Simon and Helen Munro, presenting on stage and urban music youth workshops by Mike Slott. Oli Habibi was manning the cameras and behind the lighting rig was our very own Sean Morrissey. Our small numbers were vastly outweighed by our contributions. With all this excitement encapsulated in a true spirit of fellowship and co-operation this was undoubtedly the best conference yet.

Defiantly worth the impending doom of unfinished work I left behind to go. My only concern is how they’re going to top it next year

And now, a different angle from Josh ...

I’ve just come back from the Scarborough Festival with my brothers, sister and mum and had to write and tell everyone who didn’t make it just what they were missing.

Scarborough itself isn’t that exciting from what we could see, and the weather was a bit dreary, but what a fab weekend we all had. Roarke and Dakota, my younger brother and sister were enrolled in the Children’s Activities and did, among other things, drumming, and various art and craft activities, as well as loads of singing and laughing by what I heard.

Storm, my big brother, and I joined the junior youth and were a bit disappointed not to be in the group doing hip hop. However we soon realised we were going to have fun anyway doing an enormous visual arts display as well as trying our hand at various crazy circus acts, and a huge display of “Arising to Serve” on the beach outside the conference centre. We met friends old and new and even managed a bit of time at the disco on Saturday night.

There were loads of highlights, for Roarke it was the drumming, for Storm and I it was the beach display, for mum it was the singing by Shireen, the talk by Peter Hulme, the portrayal of Charles Dunning and the reading at the final devotional item by little Isabella. For my sister it was the bacon at breakfast, but for her it’s always food.

Even with the really long journey there and back (6 hours each way) it was well worth it and we all hope to go again next year.

Now it’s time to arise and serve.

And, finally, from Sonya Sier ...

This really is just a little story of thanks – thanks to God for this wonderful Faith and thanks to all those who arise to serve without thought of praise or gratitude. For those of you wondering what I am wittering on about its simple – Scarborough!

I had the great pleasure this year of being asked to assist with the lighting for the main stage events in Scarborough. ‘Easy as pi’ I though, flick a few switches in the morning, change some in the afternoon and a couple of fancy colours in the evening and hey presto plenty of time to chat, hang out and sample the delights of this years conference.

Think again!!! Set up starts at 8am on the Friday of the conference where there is an 18 ton truck waiting to be unloaded, technical rehearsals happen throughout the day and continue right up till opening time. Then after the Friday evenings events are over there are more rehearsals for the next day. Around midnight its home time and you’ve not said hi to family or friends let alone chatted and chilled with fellow crew members. Time to go home and sleep because you have to be back in the hall at 8am the following morning to set up for the day. Well I could go on for the whole weekend but you get the picture and I am not here to say “oh look at how hard it was” I am simply here to say wow, I had no idea the time, energy and effort that the organising committee put into the event every year.

I was a very small person not doing a whole lot in the grand scheme of Scarborough, whereas the committee members have been working on the event since the drive home after last years Scarborough. It is a never ending battle to get everything ready for the Baha’i community, they work diligently without complaint (usually) so that thing run as smoothly as possible. It is my firm belief that they do not sleep the whole festival weekend as they were in before me in the morning and stayed later than me in the evening.

I know my small article is getting larger by the moment but what I really want to say is if you go to Scarborough or any other event and you see things going wrong, don’t complain - offer to help, if things are going well don’t just accept it, say thanks and if you are proud of our events then arise to serve …… in advance preferably…. there are always things to do!

With love and thanks to all organisers everywhere, Sonya Sier xx
Mrs Sharzad Farhadi from Stoke on Trent raising funds for the Edinburgh Bahá’í Centre at National Festival in Scarborough. Her daughter Rana is studying at Edinburgh university.