Personal

Halloween in September

Halloween's definitely getting bigger in the UK. How can I tell? I've just had the first knock at the door in five years of living in Woodbridge.

Greenbelt , Personal

Mike Yaconelli

It was with a heavy heart that I heard the news this morning that Mike Yaconelli died yesterday.

In 1988 I went to Greenbelt for the first time. In amongst the music, the games and the laughter, one man spoke right into my soul. It was his first time there too, and back home he wrote of the Greenbelt he saw in words so instant, so compelling, that his memories of GB88 have become mine.

And he kept coming back. Right up 'till GB03 where, asked by Martin Wroe if he had any advice for Greenbelt, Mike said that Greenbelt should move on, that organisers should make way for new blood on the planning groups, so that the festival would continue even if the organisers did not. Tough words to hear then, but in the context of today's news, so much easier to understand.

Loud, jovial, inspiring and - who'd have thought it? - wise.

Missed by many already.