Green Man Festival tents donated to refugees in France Published duration 21 August 2017 Related Topics Calais migrant crisis

Revellers at the Green Man Festival in Powys have donated hundred of tents and sleeping bags to refugees.

The Newport to Calais Aid Collective accepted the donations at the music festival, held at the Glanusk Estate in Crickhowell, over the weekend.

They will be sent to France, where activists say many migrants and refugees are still sleeping rough after "the Jungle" camp's closure.

The collective said the donations would "make a massive difference".

Cheyenne Jayne-Manning is one of the volunteers at the collective who visited the Jungle in Calais before it was dismantled in October, displacing hundreds.

image copyright Reuters image caption The Jungle camp was close to the main road to Calais port

She and other activists from Newport collected equipment on the final day of last year's festival.

When they returned for the full weekend this year they were inundated with gear.

"We've had hundreds more donations because people have seen us throughout the festival and been aware of where we are," Ms Jayne-Manning said.

"Brand new tents and sleeping bags with the price tags still on them, a pair of branded wellies... it's amazing what people are happy to donate."

image caption The Green Man festival was founded in 2003

She said, after witnessing people desperately seeking shelter in Calais and other camps in France last year, the donated will gear will help.

"People were just sleeping in the rain with absolutely no warmth around them at all. The weather in France isn't that different to here, so this will make a massive difference."

Director of the festival, Fiona Stewart, said five refugees from Syria living in Wales also helped with stewarding at the event for the first time.

She said it helped those involved to learn some skills and left a "positive legacy with people".