At our fantasy Psychologies festival we’d offer a little bit of everything, just like the magazine. There’d be a tent where we’d hold debates, discussions and workshops. Authors and experts would discuss relationships, philosophy and current affairs. Top chefs, actors, musicians and wellbeing gurus would bring our food, culture and health pages to life. It would be a weekend feast for the life curious.
We stopped fantasising six months ago when the Wilderness festival was announced: two tents dedicated to debates and talks; a banqueting hall, headed by the likes of Moro’s Sam and Sam Clarke; an outdoor spa, to revive tired limbs and sore heads after nights of forest parties and masked midnight balls; and an intimate stage where some of the UK’s most interesting acts would perform.
We were delighted to join the line-up, taking the magazine to a festival for the first time in its six-year history. Psychologies HQ was abuzz with debate about we should talk about: ‘something relevant to as many people as possible’, said the brief. Friendship in the digital age was the winner.
Deputy editor Clare Longrigg (pictured above, centre) chaired the panel, comprising psychotherapist Emma Baskerville, technology journalist Zara Rabinowicz and Sarah Whitley, senior lecturer at Leeds Metropolitan University. The age range of the audience was pleasingly wide, and views, perhaps predictably, were polarised between the younger age group, who accepted social media as a way of life, and the older, who were still assessing its usefulness and the perils it might bring.
Post-talk, the Psychologies team split up to check out the rest of the festival. Some took to the hammocks (a delightful way to catch up on the weekend papers), others took to the water (the river was open for swimming and the boating lake had a rather tasty Pimm’s bar on the side). Croquet was played, talks were heard and much dancing was done – even before the sun went down. How we all wished we could have stayed for the grand banquet, the Laura Marling headline gig, the masked ball and the boutique camping, but unfortunately we’d only come for the day. Next year, we’ll bring the tent.
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