The first ever Collective Liberation Camp in Summer 2025!
Think intersectional workshops and trainings, community cooked vegan food and songs by the camp fire.
Why Do We need A Camp?
The aim of our camp is for animal liberationists to connect with other struggles and strengthen solidarity between movements. We want to encourage collaboration, sharing resources and creativity.
Our camp will be an opportunity for us to reimagine how the world could be. We will embody anti-hierarchy, active participation and collective care.
Our shared vision is to be as inclusive as possible, with anti racism, anti ableism and anti-speciesism at the heart of the project.
Our annual Spring gathering brings together worker cooperators and our wider network of supporters and friends. Here you can reconnect, celebrate, get inspiration and learn. There will be great food, music, camping and campfires. There is also indoor accommodation and event spaces, and it’s always fun.
The event takes place at Thornbridge outdoor pursuits centre near Sheffield. The worker co-op weekend has a 2.5 day programme full of peer learning and business networking opportunities. We’re now co-creating the programme with a mix of planned and open space events. Booking will be open soon so watch this space!
If there are subjects you’d like to see covered, or would be interested in running a session yourself, please add a suggestion to this list. Discussion about the event is in this forum post.
Worker Co-op Weekend is generously supported by domains.coop
We have our first ever Plant-Based Councils Midlands regional training in Nottingham! Other dates in Bristol, London, Edinburgh & Machester further below
🎨 Sunday 16th Feb 10:30-17:00 @ Nottingham Contemporary
🌟 It will be a day packed with information and skills for new and existing campaigners to really help us continue building the momentum and wins we achieved in 2024.
Completely free of charge, with refreshments and lunch included.
Please sign up using the link below if you can make it and please share widely
We have our first ever Plant-Based Councils Midlands regional training in Nottingham! Other dates in Bristol, London, Edinburgh & Machester further below
🎨 Sunday 16th Feb 10:30-17:00 @ Nottingham Contemporary
🌟 It will be a day packed with information and skills for new and existing campaigners to really help us continue building the momentum and wins we achieved in 2024.
Completely free of charge, with refreshments and lunch included.
Please sign up using the link below if you can make it and please share widely
We have our first ever Plant-Based Councils Midlands regional training in Nottingham! Other dates in Bristol, London, Edinburgh & Machester further below
🎨 Sunday 16th Feb 10:30-17:00 @ Nottingham Contemporary
🌟 It will be a day packed with information and skills for new and existing campaigners to really help us continue building the momentum and wins we achieved in 2024.
Completely free of charge, with refreshments and lunch included.
Please sign up using the link below if you can make it and please share widely
The Earth First! Summer Gathering is the place where people involved in radical ecological direct action – or those who want to be involved – get together for five days of time and space to talk, walk, share skills, learn, play, rant, find out what’s going on, find out what’s next, live outside, strategise, hang out, incite, laugh and conspire.
The workshops, networking and planning of actions at this low impact eco-living camp is organised non-hierarchically. It’s run without leaders by everyone who comes along, so come prepared to chip in.
Save the date! The 2025 Earth First Summer Gathering will be 7 – 11 August. Location tbc. The gathering is a time to come together to celebrate our movement and build radical ecological resistance in these isles. Never been to an EF gathering? No problem, new comers are very welcome. Join us for workshops, music, discussion and connecting to like-minded people fighting for social and ecological revolution.
Join us for four days of low impact living at the Green Gathering in an area of outstanding beauty, every nook and corner bursting with music, creativity, natural abundance and community spirit.
The original off-grid, non-profit festival: we’re powered by sun, wind, people and passion for change.
As well as #FoodByVeggies the Green Gathering features many free workshops, including free vegan cookery demonstrations – with samples – by Food for a Future.
Intimate solar stages showcase up and coming acts, legendary festival favourites, DJs and spellbinding raconteurs. Share wisdom and skills; find friends old and new; weave, weld and tell stories.
Have a party – then wake up and put the world to rights. This festival’s impact lasts longer than a weekend.
If you’ve been before or not, given a workshop before or not, we encourage anyone engaged in the struggle for a better world to send us a proposal for one or more workshops in the Campaigns area on your cause. We always give priority to direct action campaigns that are looking to mobilise people, but we are open to all kinds of related topics around that. Please get in touch with any questions or just email your proposal to greengatheringcampaigns@gmail.com
Here at Veggies we are continuing to push forward our minimal packaging policies – extending the use of proper mugs to serving soft drinks in returnable beakers, to reduce use of single use plastics & straws. We have now established distribution of our Ethical Consumer Best Buy Burger/Sosage Mixes to many other caterers to help raise their ethical sourcing and ended the production of frozen foods.
Veggies was established as a fully vegan volunteer-led cooperative on 16th October 1984
Book Here for Saturday’s Anniversary Gig from 6pm – only £12 including food (+ fixr fee).
Unfortunately Seize the Day are no longer able to be part of the event. Instead we will use the time for a campaign networking go-around, inviting reminiscences and celebrations of continuing activism.
We’re also planning the (free) Nottingham premier, at Sumac Centre, of the documentary the “The Spys who Ruined Our Lives“, a film lead by women affected by the #spycops scandal, including those close to Sumac (3pm)
… and “highlights from #McLibel” with co-defendant Dave Morris (2pm)
Plus all the other activities detailed below, at Sumac Centre, 245 Gladstone Street, Nottingham NG7 6HX [directions]
Please share the message that everyone is invited to share our 40th Anniversary Celebrations, at Friday’s Party, Saturday’s film screenings, vegan dinner & gig and at Sunday’s Acoustic / Campaign Garden Party & Brunch.
Friday 18th October
Veggies Reunion.
Hundreds of Veggies Volunteers have helped cater for thousands of campaign events since 1984, feeding up to a million people!
But, in the words of Earth First: “We Are All Crew“.
JOIN US! Everyone who has ever cooked, washed up, invited Veggies to their events, supported Veggies at a demo or campaign, or supported Veggies as a customer anywher, any time, is invited to join our Party from 6pm on Friday 18th October at the Sumac Centre!
Have you ever helped at a Veggies Event?
Contact Us with your reminisences and pictures, and join Fridays reunion party!
Documentarian Franny Armstrong explores the infamous “McLibel” case, a lawsuit filed by the McDonald’s Corporation that targeted two members of the London Greenpeace environmentalist collective who distributed a brochure denouncing the products and business practices of the massive fast food restaurant chain. Employing courtroom reenactments directed by prominent British filmmaker Ken Loach, the film reveals the extreme financial lengths McDonald’s goes to in order to win the suit. [100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes film review site]
The story of the fightback for justice by those affected by the #Spycops scandal, at Nottingham’s Sumac Centre, where much of the story unfolded. Followed by Q&A with those involved in the film & the wider issues.
4.30 – 5pm . #Spycops Q&As
“The spies who ruined our lives” is a not for profit feature length documentary film, Produced, Directed and edited by Justyn Jones and Madoc Roberts with Jason Kirkpatrick as associate producer . It has been made to raise awareness and give a comprehensive and historical perspective of the Spycops scandal.
5pm . Break for bands sound check before dinner.
6pm . People’s Kitchen dinner by Veggies
Including reflections and celebrations of past campaigns, and other Veggies anecdotes.
There will also be #FoodByVeggies from the iconic Veggies Trailer, now retired from active service in the fields and residing as our Sumac garden cafe kitchen.
Celebrations will continue at the Forest Fields Social Club, here at the Sumac Centre, with DJs, possible fun & games, and of course there will be Samosas For Social Change and Vegan cake!
This is what we got up to for our 25th anniversary in 2009
Saturday 17th October to Sunday 18th October 2009
Veggies 25th Anniversary Weekend! Feeding the hungry without exploiting animals since 1984!
Friday 16th
* What’s Still Wrong With McDonalds – demos everywhere, including Vegan Free Food Give-Away in Nottingham.
* Benjamin Zephaniah Gig. 7pm-9pm at Djanogly City Academy, Sherwood Rise.
* Open Decks Disco. 9pm – Midnight.
Saturday 17th – Campaign Catering at these events:
* National Anti Fur March and Rally, London
* The Great Climate Swoop, Nottingham
* Target Brimar, Manchester Arms Trade Action
followed by:
* Saturday at Sumac : Party Like It’s 1984!
Food, music & drinks at the Sumac Social Club.
Acoustic jammers, Bedroom DJs and other musicians and entertainers welcome!
Sunday 18th : All Day Veggies Bunch and Workday at Brinsley Animal Rescue.
🌳🌲The Earth First! Winter Moot will happen on 14th-16th February near Nottingham🌲🌳
💥 The Moot is going to be a bit different this year, and we encourage you to read the full statement about it here: http://tinyurl.com/EFmoot25
🧠 By sharing this vision beforehand we hope that you EF!ers will be able to make an informed decision about whether this little experiment is something you have time and energy for.
❄️ We hope that this winter we can have some really in-depth conversations about who we are and where we are at as a movement.
Love and Solidarity ✊️
Join us for 3 days of critical reflections and visioning on the EF! movement. Where have we been? Where are we? Where are we going? Wheelchair accessible venue near Nottingham. Limited capacity – you must register! Affinity groups/orgs are encouraged to send delegates. No dogs 🙁
Earth First! is a banner for independent groups who share a common need to protect our ecological systems. We believe in non-hierarchical direct action, to stop and reverse the forces responsible for the destruction of the earth and its inhabitants.
