If you are looking for a great bank holiday weekend then you should head over to Melford Hall Park and support a great festival for a great cause. A banging  line up with some of Britain’s best Indie acts supported by some brilliant local talent will ensure you have a memorable bank holiday weekend.

http://leestock.org/full-line-up-announced-for-leestock-2013/line-up/

At the Big Bear Fest we have a lot of empathy with the LeeStock Music Festival.  As our festival was borne from the tragedy of losing a wonderful young man, so too was LeeStock.

Lee Dunford, at the tender age of 17, was, like all of us,  about to embark on an exciting life toward adulthood.  Lee’s life took a different turn as he was diagnosed with  Hodgkins Lymphoma. Read about this remarkable young man and his determination to live and fight

 at http://leestock.org/lee-dunford/willow-foundation/

So get yourself to Melford Hall, have a great time and in doing so know that you are helping families and friends to not have to suffer in the way the families and friends of Sam Bearman and Lee Dunford have had to.

Lets make a difference…

http://leestock.org/tickets/latest-news/

One Love

All at The Big Bear Fest xxxx

PS: If you would like to help out at LeeStock this year and get yourself a free ticket then apply here

]]> http://bigbearfest.org/big-bear-fest/leestock-a-must-for-music-lovers/feed/ 0 http://bigbearfest.org/big-bear-fest/event-sponsorship-why-we-have-the-big-bear-fest/ http://bigbearfest.org/big-bear-fest/event-sponsorship-why-we-have-the-big-bear-fest/#comments Mon, 13 May 2013 13:34:33 +0000 Lee http://bigbearfest.org/?p=2098 The Big Bear Fest is coming home to Braintree and as such will have a huge market appeal for local people. However, there is much more to this and a very important message that we need to get over to as many people as possible.

The festival is primarily about celebrating the life of Sam Bearman who was tragically taken in 2011 when struck down by meningitis at the age of 24. It is also  dedicated to raising awareness of this killer disease amongst an age group that many believe to be safe.

Finally, and as importantly, it tells the story of how Sam never had any of the classic signs as parents we are focused on looking for and how as responsible parents we were ignored by those professionals we seek help from in times of emergency.

We cannot stress enough that as a parent, however old your child – you know when he or she is not right and by being aware of this and demanding action you will not have to face the daily torment we will have till the day we die.

Despite being in our care during his last few days Sam’s treatment by the NHS was horrendous:

• Told by a doctor he didn’t need to go to hospital
• Treated by ambulance staff as if he was on drugs or drunk
• Threatened with security at hospital

Our story starts just after the New Year.  We were all excited as I was due to fly to Munich on the 06th January to start a new career.  I was to fly out then and Cindy, Nathan  and Sam if he wanted as I had offered him some work out there which Sam liked the sound of , were going to follow over the next few months.

However, the 06th January turned out to be the end of our life instead of the beginning…

Sam had came home after a night out complaining of pains in his legs. Cindy gave him some paracetamol, sat talking to him for a while and he finally got some sleep.

He was feeling no better the next day and Cindy was worried.  Sam was never ill, never went to the doctors and never made a fuss. So after several phone calls to the out of hours service which decided Sam was not a priority at first , Cindy got an appointment at The Braintree Community Hospital for Sam to see a doctor.

By now Sam was getting worse, and being sick. Cindy went to the doctor’s appointment with Sam along with his dad Dane. Cindy went into the appointment with Sam to speak to the doctor and told the doctor that she thought Sam  should go to hospital.  The doctor disagreed, and said, it was only a virus and they would definitely not want him there and would send him home after maybe hydrating him which we could do at home.. Cindy, reiterated that she wasn’t happy with this but she trusted his judgment.

The doctor gave Sam an anti sickness injection and some re hydration powders and said if he didn’t start urinating in 6  hours then to go back.

Sam did seem to improve. He went to the toilet within the time scale and also completely stopped being sick. He even had a little food and half a growler. This was to be short lived though. On the Tuesday evening, Sam started to feel weaker and was getting a bad headache – Cindy  gave him more paracetamol  which was  doing nothing for his bad head ache. She even got into bed with him for a short while to watch him and finally decided that something was very wrong even though she was still able to have a normal conversation with him. After several calls to the out of hours number we got an ambulance to come and take Sam to hospital.

After what seemed an age an ambulance finally arrived and the paramedics had been informed they were seeing a young man who was potentially diabetic!!

Worse than this incredibly bad diagnosis was there whole attitude. They were clearly convinced that they were dealing with a young man suffering from excesses of the festive period.   They kept asking Sam if he had taken anything, continually implying he had taken drugs. This was despite Cindy telling them he had been in our care and had already seen a doctor!

By this time Sam could not respond verbally and in their notes they wrote, “he refused to speak”.  On reading the notes the head of the ICU stated that should have been substituted with “unable to speak”.

The journey to Broomfield was so distressing for Cindy and Sam. He  rapidly deteriorated and the para medic’s attitude to Sam remained aggressive and without compassion. If you knew Sam, then you would know that this was a young man without an aggressive bone in his body.  He made people feel good and was rarely if ever judgmental.  So for them to view Sam as some belligerent, ignorant and awkward man was so far from the truth and so painful for Cindy to see and to be ignored  despite her telling them.

On reaching the hospital, Cindy was literally dumped in a corridor with Sam for nearly 10 minutes before someone came to see her – the para medics didn’t stay with her and didn’t tell her what was happening.  She was in panic as she could see Sam struggling and there was nothing she could do.

She begged a nurse to come and help  Sam after hearing them laughing in the corridor.  She was told he would be with them shortly;  When the nurse FINALLY came in,  he told Cindy that all of Sam’s vitals were good and that he would be ok.

However Sam continued to deteriorate and a doctor arrived  and Cindy had to leave the room.. While Sam was with the doctor the nurse came out again and told Cindy that if Sam continued struggling, they would have to call security…shortly after that , Sam was rushed passed her into resuscitation fighting for his life.

Cindy called  me and Dane but was alone  listening to the cries of Sam, unable to comfort him in anyway.  I arrived about 30 minutes after Cindy called me and I could still  hear Sam crying out in distress. Dane arrived very shortly after when they finally had Sam sedated and were suspecting he had meningitis.

After a few hours and the arrival of other members of Sam’s family we were told he was going into intensive care and would wake up with a really bad headache – you can imagine our relief . The nurse told us to go home for a couple of hours and they would have Sam all settled.   Dane said he would stay so we agreed.

We arrived back in Braintree to a phone call from Dane saying Sam had taken a turn for the worse and that we needed to get back.  It was only after Sam’s death that we were told by the head of the ICU that we should never have been told this as in his opinion, Sam’s fight for life was already over and there was no way back.

We live with Sam’s last few days and his treatment with every breath we take on every living day.  We don’t want anyone else to have to go through our torment and so we have the Big Bear Fest.

• We remember Sam
• We raise awareness and funds for Meningitis

We tell our story and hope beyond all hope it doesn’t happen to you and your child.

Help us to make sure we can achieve our aims and add to the value of  our son’s life by telling  our story to as many people as possible  – Please  support the Big Bear Fest.

Business Sponsorship Contact Here

Individuals Contact Here

The Greedy Bus is roaring along.  On Wednesday we have a meeting with all of the licensing parties involved to make sure we get our Event Management Plan in place and accepted (No Pressure!).

The above image shows our preliminary lay out of this year’s Big Bear Fest.  Its a great layout with easy access from all of the surrounding towns:

• 5 minutes from Braintree;
• 1o minutes from Witham/Halstead;
• 15 minutes from Chelmsford;
• 25 minutes from Sudbury/Colchester

There is plenty of onsite parking and of course camping for all you greedy people!

As this year’s festival will be on what would have been Sam’s 27th Birthday lets make it a real banger and despite a heavy hangover it will be in the memory banks as, “a day to remember!!!”.

Tickets are on sale now and with an already impressive line up(with more to come) make sure you don’t miss out and get yours now by clicking below:

Although Manchester band Velocets are relatively new to the scene, 2012 has been a very promising year… After BBC Introducing picked up on their debut track ‘Sophie’, the band were constantly gigging throughout 2012 and went on to play a number of summer festivals. This included The Big Bear Fest 2012 and we were so impressed with the fellas we invited them back!

After being invited into Blueprint studios in Manchester, Velocets have recorded two new songs ‘Tell It To Your Kids’ & ‘Naked’. These new songs have received great reviews. Check them out here:

www.facebook.com/Velocets

The Pins hail from the Essex/Hertfordshire borders and have been causing quite a stir in the short time that they have been together. At Big Bear Fest 2011 they were awesome and its great to get these local lads back once again.

Having sold out their local club night for their first ever gig, The Pins went on to play headline shows in Harlow, Cambridge, Hertford, Chelmsford and Bishops Stortford. But it isn’t only the provincial towns that have taken a liking to these guys as they have performed at a number of top venues in London including Proud, 229, The Water Rats, The Bull and Gate and 333 Motherbar. Along the way they have played alongside some great acts including Turin Brakes, The Rifles, Twisted Wheel, The Blockheads, The Holloways, Official Secrets Act and The Subways’ Billy Lunn.

Have a listen;

 http://www.thepins.co.uk/ThePins/HOME.html

Ticket Prices

Standard Day Adult £25.00

Greedy bus Camper Adult £30.00

Standard Day Child aged 16 to 17 £12.50 (must be accompanied by an adult)

Greedy Bus Child aged 16 to 17 £15.00 (must be accompanied by an adult)

All children under 16 free (must be accompanied by an adult)

Buy your tickets here

Alternatively get free entry to the Big Bear Fest by by joining the Big Bear Fest 500 Club and showing your support. Find out more here