Experiences
Click here to jump down to Art from Manifest (poems etc)Why Manifest is important to people
"I love the generations - the little fellers playing in the stream, the lads wrestling, young men fire walking, men laughing and singing, grandfather's sharing their lifelong experiences"
Martin
"What do I remember about Manifest? - the fights in the first committee between (Mark) Joseph and John Allan - the women invading at the crack of dawn demanding our attention and the ensuing circles at Manifest and later back in Totnes dealing with some really serious community issues - (Sketti) Lloyd arriving arriving for the very first time, walking across the field with a shock of bright red hair and playing the didge - doing a "didge bath" for the whole circle - Luke Anderson's wonderful cooking - taking Tom to phone New Zealand from a public telephone box in Princetown - the first wide game and Max getting hurt - the puppet silhouette theatre that Ken produced - all night stomps I avoided like the plague - Steve Hopwood's wonderful fry up's- arriving at the camp after dropping Adam at Totnes station to leave for America and bursting into tears as I touched the loss of a child now grown up - Lloyd's Dad joining the circle - the talent shows and the emotions competition - the only time by the sea and sitting drinking cocktails with Clive watching the wide game, while the wildmen raced about below us attacking each other - the arguments about whether to have an open or a closed camp, a short or a long camp - Winter manifest and Mani's story - Ollie's dad putting up the rope bridge and then the flood, watching the water rise and rise and rise and....
What do I value about Manifest? - watching a new generation grow up knowing there is a different way; friendship; real conversation; food over the fire; the freedom to hang out and talk; dark, strong, black coffee first thing in the morning, the shit pits, 14 years of commitment by so many people ..."
Mo
"...there's a good team spirit, I enjoy mixing with all the different age groups, I have always enjoyed being there when I am there, and I'm very grateful to all the people who have looked after me in the past, and all the people who have put their trust in me. I have been going to manifest since I was 3, I am now 17, and now it feels like a big part of my life. I would be sad to see it go...Also it's worth mentioning I have come from a single-parent background and manifest has helped to bring me up in its own way with all the different male figures who go..."
Love Rowan
In answer to are you coming this year...
"Def man, it was qual"
Felix
"The main reasons why I went to last year’s Manifest:
I had the need to spend a few days in the company of good men. The guys who I work with are ok but.......
(Result: I enjoyed a few days in the precious company of good men)
To feel the earth beneath my feet (and bed), mud squelching between my toes, feeling the wind and the rain in my face (perhaps I wanted that a bit too much), smell the woodsmoke in my clothes. In my everyday life I spend a bit too much time in grey offices and 4.5 star hotels. It takes me some time to get back into nature. Being with people who find it easy helps. I remember at a previous Manifest we were beating the boundary of the site and came to a very wet muddy part. I was worried about getting the mud in my boots, and was working out how to best negotiate a path through. Meanwhile someone else (who happened to be Sky Chapman) had taken his clothes off and was slithering through the black mud like an Amazonian snake. Yeah, that's it! I thought.
I enjoyed the communal stuff. It was amazing how enormous tasks (like preparing the food) became easy when several people worked together - although I often seemed to be absent at critical moments. The meetings in the big yurt, storytelling, soundings.
When I arrived at Manifest, driving through Two Bridges I was feeling a bit apprehensive, then I saw the reassuringly handmade sign at the gate, and I knew that I was in the right place. I was setting up my tent, eventually remembering which way round it went. Nearby, Mo commented 'I'm getting too old for this, or he may have said we're getting too old for this' or perhaps it was 'you're getting too old for this'. With my creaky back the hard ground did take some getting used to. I didn't enjoy the midges ( why, God?)
I'd like to have more time to explore the surrounding area, walks around Wistman's Wood and nearby Tors.
Love, Andy
Art from Manifest
Where the Men Stand
There is a place, where the men stand,
High up, on the hill
Looking out.
The rivers, the woods, the fields and the flowers,
Spread out below them.
The wind, what wind there is,
Moves gently amongst them,
And the sun, blessed sun,
Kisses their backs.
No one speaks.
If you could see them there
You would not question their decision.
I have stood there
Amongst them on that hill
And I know what brings them –
The sweet, inexpressible knowledge
That in all this,
In all this beauty,
There is a place,
High up on that hill,
Where the men stand.
Do not ask yourself
Why?
Or listen to the clattering voices
that make each step a decision.
Take the forest path and climb.
And take your place
High up on that bright hill.
They are waiting.
Olly Hurd-Thomas, Manifest, 1993