The founder of a charity partnered with a huge upcoming vegan festival will talk about how she drew inspiration from meeting a mountain gorilla face to face.

Vegan Camp Out, the world’s largest vegan camping festival, has had a six-year partnership with its charity partner Viva!

The vegan festival will be from July 28-31, and is held at Bicester Heritage.

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Viva! is a vegan campaigning charity, specialising in undercover investigations and high-profile animal campaigns.

Juliet Gellatley, founder and director of Viva!, said: “We’ve had a really strong partnership with Vegan Camp Out for six years now, and work closely together to make veganism accessible and enjoyable.

“This weekend is very important to a rapidly growing movement, raising the profile of veganism to the public and providing a space for existing vegans to build new friendships.

“The festival is also a great opportunity for our passionate team to speak to thousands of people who care about animals and our planet.”

Ms Gellatley will also be delivering her own talks during the festival.

She said: “I’ll be giving two talks over the weekend, the first of which will explain my vegan journey, with audience participation.

“While the second will explain the day I met a mountain gorilla face to face and how that was the dawning of Viva! in Africa.

“Our documentary Hogwood: a modern horror story, will also be shown.

“A milestone in the vegan calendar, Vegan Camp Out is a momentous occasion where vegans and non-vegans alike can meet, enjoy a massive selection of delicious plant-based foods and listen to top talks, comedy sets and live music.

“It’s the friendliest festival I’ve ever been to and I strongly encourage non-vegans to come along and just enjoy.”

Deadpan comedian Romesh Ranganathan is due to headline the event, which will be the site of talks, food stalls, live music, activism workshops, yoga, afterparties and family friendly activities.

Sam Ryder, a singer who rose to prominence through TikTok before representing the UK at the Eurovision Song Contest 2022.

The festival is held annually, and this year other headliners include Joey Carbstrong, ex-gang members turned animal rights activist, former professional athlete and part of The Game Changers documentary, Patrik Baboumian and Mobius Loop, a musical group who create folk stories by fusing world music with conscious rap.

Tickets are available from vegancampout.co.uk, with adults charged £85, kids £40 and infanst up to three-years-old going free.

Last year’s festival was held at Stanford Hall, in Lutterworth, with over 12,000 people in attendance.

The event in 2021 saw Russell Brand and Chris Packham as headliners.

 

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This story was written by Matthew Norman, he joined the team in 2022 as a Facebook community reporter.

Matthew covers Bicester and focuses on finding stories from diverse communities.

Get in touch with him by emailing: Matthew.norman@newsquest.co.uk

Follow him on Twitter: @OxMailMattN1