Why we’re going to miss Glastonbury so much this year!

The Green Futures field, at the top, not far from the Stone Circle in Glastonbury festival….that’s where Su Hardy first set out a small pitch to share information about the impact of disposable sanitary products on our seas and waterways, our bodies and our pockets too. She was there to introduce the Mooncup®, a new silicone menstrual cup that she’d created as a solution, too.

Challenging the menstrual taboo

This was all way before single-use plastic was on most people’s radar, and certainly before most of us had even thought about whether tampons or pads were all they’d cracked up to be. The period taboo was still very much at large!

At Mooncup, festivals have played a part in what we’ve done from the outset – and, in honesty, for some of us were one of the perks that made joining the team all the more appealing. Knowing that at some point in the year we could hit the road with the Mooncup stall and talk face to face about periods, vaginas, the stuff of once-secrets, out and proud!

Stickering the toilets and long drops

I joined the team in 2005, my son was 3 at the time…. he’s 18 now! In the summer, we’d head off with different members of the team in my trusty Ford Transit campervan – Glastonbury, Sunrise festival, the Big Green Gathering, Womad, Electric Picnic, the Big Chill.

We’d pitch the stall and get on our bikes cross country to sticker the toilets and guerilla poster the site, ready for some brilliant conversations.

Over the years Mooncup Ltd came of age. Millions of passionate Mooncup users around the world had helped us to become the leading menstrual cup. But Glastonbury has still stayed at the heart of our calendar.

Glastonbury – opening up to new possibilities

There’s something about the festival scene for a radical new concept. People go with open minds (or at least to loosen them!) and are keen to shake off their normal habits and discover new experiences. It’s perfect for thinking of something new like the Mooncup.

And all the while, the kids grew alongside us, part of the team, setting up their own fly pitches by the stall, seeing the grassroots stuff of entrepreneurialism and enjoying the freedoms of creativity and outdoors.

Sometimes muddy, always curious

Rose-tinted glasses??? That’s for sure. There was many a rain drenched mud fest, having to dig trenches around the stall and our camp, being towed off site, having key bits of kit stolen, an over-zealous ‘pirate’ terrifying my son, festivals cancelled due to floods when we’d already pitched…. the very stuff of British summertime.

Still, whatever the weather there’d be extraordinary chats for us to enjoy with curious, open minded women, young girls, men, trans, non-binary, all in the mix, called by the stickers to find out more: intimate, funny, taboo-busting and shame-free chat. A real privilege. On and off shift, there’d be a moment without parallel – shutting shop for all of us to see Dolly Parton, Vivienne Westwood coming to chat at the stall, our friend Sarah’s Glastonbury wedding, hours of play in Shangri La and the Unfairground, the Dalai Lama, Kate Tempest, hidden piano bars with spontaneous jamming and raucous song, the Arcadia pyrotechnic Spider with figures battling one another with electricity!

And the bad weather ones? As we clustered round our small campfire, seeking shelter together, we knew why we were there – to spread the word about the Mooncup menstrual cup – and got all the closer as a team through doing it all together.

Roll on Glastonbury 2021 – we’ll be so ready for you!

Read more on the Mooncup Blog:
What kind of person uses a Mooncup?!?
How to be Zero-Waste at Festivals – What to Pack this Summer
Travelling On Your Period – Why The Mooncup Is A Backpacker’s Best Friend