Welcome to My Camp Bestival, please tell us who you are and what you do at the festival?
I'm Rob da Bank and im the co-founder and co-promoter of Camp Bestival with my lovely wife Josie! We all like to multitask at Camp HQ so i'll book the music, arts and literary stuff but also help curate the food offerings, wellness space and occasionally whack a tent peg in the ground or help bud a structure onsite to keep my eye in.
Can you describe a Camp Bestival weekend in three words (remember we are a family show!)
Fun, family, freedom.
Please can you share one (or your top 3) Camp Bestival highlights from over the years?
Chuck Berry doing the duck walk across stage whilst playing guitar in about his 80th year being a rock n roll legend, me and Josie crying our eyes out to Bon Iver playing in the Big Top and escorting a very young and virtually unknown Ed Sheehan into the woods to play to about 30 people.
What top 3 tips do you have for a new festival going family?
Pack everything - everyone else does… then unpack all the electronics and devices - kids wont need them or use them
Pace yourself - it's a long day at Camp Bestival with so many amazing things to do so dont try and do it all on the first day… use the Thursday to get your camp really comfy and set up and then enjoy the next 3 days exploring
Let your kids do things they wouldn’t normally do (tree climbing, sword carving, covering themselves in mud) - they’ll thank you for the rest of the summer.
What are the top 3 must have items that you can’t live without at a Camp Bestival?
A trolley by the looks of the fields - good for Dad/Mums beer and blankets in the day and a handy bed for a small person later on
A binbag - our audience constantly amaze us by being the tidiest bunch out here so a beanbag makes a great emergency rain poncho but also a useful umm..bin bag!
New friends - be brave and make some new friends - our abidance are so friendly and I love meeting new people every year and often welcoming them back the year and year after that.
Where do you like to hang out when you’re not working if you ever get a moment!? (favourite stage/ area/ secret hideout?)
Definitely in Rimskis yard at Caravanserai….possibly my favourite place in the world. Watching Rimski and his lady Handkerchief in their alternate universe playing with stuffed cats on gramophones and sewing and playing a moving piano with wheels is a one off experience.
What are you most excited about for 2022?
For Dorset the disco extravaganza of Earth Wind and Fire, Kool and The Gang and Sister Sledge and for Shropshire me old mate Fatboy Slim - I first went to interview him when I was in my early 20s in Brighton and he was just about to become a megastar and we’ve been raving politely together ever since.
Proudest CB achievement or moment to date?
Josie turning up with our fourth child 6 days after having an emergency C section and helping run the show like normal. Shes a warrior!
What’s your favourite (family friendly) conversation overheard at Camp Bestival?
A lovely kid telling his Mum that ‘Camp Bestival is better than Christmas' in the queue for an ice cream about 5 years ago.
Who would you most like to book for the Castle Stage that you haven’t managed to already?
Dolly Parton naturally.
