Kidzfield: "We’re looking forward to our best year ever!"

10th June 2010

We caught up with Kidzfield organiser Tony Cordy to find out what the plans are for the children’s area at this year’s Festival.

Hello Tony, how are things shaping up for the Kidzfield in 2010?
We’re looking forward to our best year ever! We’re opening a day early, on the Thursday, for the first time this year and we’ve got some great new acts and facilities.

Have you got any new additions to the field for this year?
We have our regular TV legends Bodger & Badger and we’re pleased to have attracted a number of other children’s TV stars. We’ve got CBeebies’ Andy Day with his comedy crew and Kirsten O’Brien will be premiering her live, interactive SMart Art Show in our BigTop. We’ve also got a fantastic mobile recording studio, courtesy of RePlay and Access to Music. Over the last few years we’ve given away hundreds of musical instruments and as well as doing that again this year we’re letting the kids record themselves in a fully equipped state of the art studio. We’ve had kids from the field that now play on stages across the site and we want to produce the future stars of the Pyramid stage.

How did you come to be opening a day earlier this year?
It’s the 40th anniversary of the Festival and we want to bring as much of the Kidzfield magic to the festival folk as we can. Kids under 12 come to Glastonbury for free and everything in the Kidzfield is free so we’re the last traditional Free Festival left standing.

For anyone wondering whether to bring their kids to Glastonbury, what would you say?
Glastonbury is a fantastic, magical, memorable experience. 40 years after we began we’re still sending out Peace & Love and living with the values of openness and acceptance, willingness to experience things and share our lives with the myriad people of the World. We aim to create an organic wonderland in the Kidzfield, there are hundreds of things to do but children must be accompanied at all times, so the parents get to share the experience. That’s really rewarding and adds to the good vibes in our area. Kids come to us and go from the Big Top to the Make and Do, climb on the castle, learn a Circus skill, listen to a story, bang on a drum, climb the rock wall, watch a puppet show and ride on a fairground ride. Then they leave with a painted face, holding something they’ve created with a broad smile and memories to last a lifetime.

Are there any acts performing in the field that you’re particularly excited about?
I’m excited by all our acts, obviously. Some special acts we have this year are ‘Zu Aerial Dance’ – an aerial acrobatics show with workshops for the kids. Rainbow Theatre are doing a production of Shakespeare’s The Tempest with kids from the audience and, of course Bodger & Badger’s show will be a total mash-up! We’ve got pirates, aliens, BMXer’s, Magicians, Clowns, Drum Bands and mimes and I mustn’t forget Professor Pumperninkle and his Mad Science Show. This is the best year ever to have a happy childhood!

For more info on the Kidzfield, check out kidzfield.com