SolarAid puts best foot forward with Havaianas and Oceans Events at The Big Chill Festival 2010

SolarAid once again graced the Malvern Hills as an official partner at The Big Chill Festival earlier this month. The festival showcased SolarAid's work in Malawi, Tanzania, Kenya and Zambia whilst providing a phone charging service to all those festival-goers with low batteries (of the mobile phone kind) using solar power. The platform allowed SolarAid to communicate its commitment to fight both climate change and poverty in a fun, easy going and picturesque setting.

SolarAid volunteers gather on the first day of the festival.

The Sun King (second from right) and volunteers pose with one of our two mobile solar roller charging units.

The volunteer base SolarAid has is bigger than ever and this year 80 volunteers and staff members dressed in solar themed fancy dress to deliver SolarAid's key messages both on stage and off as compères, phone chargers, technicians, and yoga instructors (to name a few). Fashion designer James Randall's Sun King costume outshone the competition, successfully catching the public imagination (see above). Meanwhile our solar roller teams offered phone charging on the move using the innovative mobile units in the main arena.

The SolarAid Buskers' Stage and Sun Hut
SolarAid's Sun Hut acted as a haven for all things solar. Next door to the solar powered SolarAid Buskers' Stage (powered by Firefly) it was the ideal location to listen to the best live music on offer or to simply lounge on bean bags and cushions. Hugely successful, SolarAid charged more than 1,200 phones generating over £5,000 in the process.

The SolarAid Buskers' Stage (powered by Firefly) offered live music and performances throughout the day.

Havaianas and Oceans Events
For this year's festival SolarAid partnered with Havaiainas and Oceans Events, who together raised almost £8000. Festival-goers were invited to exchange old flip-flops, plus a £10 donation to SolarAid, for a brand new pair of self-designed Havaianas. With 100% of all donations going to SolarAid, total takings for the weekend rose to £12,758. SolarAid would like to thank Havaianas and Oceans Events for a fantastic contribution.

A happy festival-goer purchases a new pair of Havaianas flipflops in exchange for a £10 donation to SolarAid.

To find out more about the Big Chill go to www.bigchill.net/festival.
If you would like to support SolarAid you can make a donation here.