Friday the 1^st of September saw the best 12 hours of partying of the year, the SAS Recyclaball was absolutely unforgettaball!!!

The SAS Ball is the one night of the year SAS stop campaigning and put on the party of the year, and this year was no different. The recycling theme really made a big difference to the clean up and made partygoers think about what happens to their amazing outfits and party paraphernalia.  Crisp packets, corks, plastic bags, milk cartons, drinks cans and even a wheelie bin were recycled into the most wonderful costumes.  The Wombles also made guest appearances.

The Recyclaball saw a new set up for the SAS Ball.  The dance floor was bigger, and the décor incorporated (recycled) previous ball themes brilliantly.  The Dance Tent was almost twice the size of last years tent and there was a new cocktail tent with cabaret.  All these tents were connected by tunnels, keeping everyone warm and dry.  The food was organic and vegetarian and as always the atmosphere was terrific.      

Big name acts have been coming to the ball for years, and this year was no exception.  The best set of the night, and maybe of all time was laid down by Michael Franti and Spearhead.  They were an awesome ball band, with the right mix of passion for SAS’s campaigns, appreciation of Cornwall’s beauty, a great rapport with the heaving, bouncing, dancing crowd and most importantly, great song after great song.  In fact, they played for 90 minutes and the dance floor was packed with astonished revellers, blown away by how magnificent they were. 

Possibly the only band that could follow Michael Franti and Spearhead was The Automatic, and even then they had to enlist the help of the Wombles as backing dancers.  The Automatic blasted off with some great album tracks and their new single.  They had the crowd taking off with them with girls up on shoulders showing the band how much they loved them.  They covered Kanye West’s Gold Digger and invited the Wombles on stage to get funky.  Uncle Bulgaria and Orinoco showed that the Wombles were funky dancers as well as great patrons for recycling.  They finished with ‘Monster’, the song of the summer and the Wombles had trouble keeping up with the band’s energy, but the crowd really rose to the occasion.

The 747s lifted off at 7pm, a new band being championed by Radio 1 at the moment.  DJ Brody wound things up at 7am keeping the dance floor bouncing until the very last song.

In between them Xavier Rudd charmed the crowd with his unique, beautiful soulful grooves and local band All Day Breakfast injected the funk.  Amid all the bands the DJs supplied great tune after great tune ensuring that the dance floor stayed packed.  Luke Gledhill, Nick Green, Simon Mu, DJ Seed, all had great sets and found the right mix of music.      

Big names in the DJ world also made the dance tent the best ever.  Radio 1’s Judge Jules played a 90 minute set and he was joined by DJs Rye, Dante, Luke and Jonathan Oates.  They supplied the high octane music that the revellers used to see them through until 6am.   

Transforming these huge marquees was Chaos Design who worked tirelessly to make them look like the set of a movie.  Hybrid’s stiltwalkers, jugglers and acrobats entertained and thrilled!

Tom Harding and the AV3 crew did some amazing work as VJ’s and ensured that SAS’s environmental message was communicated to all partygoers with fantastic visual effects!

St John Ambulance were on site providing first aid cover, they were pleased to report that despite the size of the event, there were only literally a handful of minor incidents.

SAS would like to thank everyone who came to the Ball, particularly those who helped clean up and who took the time to recycle! Again this year we had Network Recycling UK Ltd on site supervising all the recycling. We had biodegradable plates, cutlery and glasses that all got composted as well as loads of recycling bins throughout the site. As an environmental pressure group we would always like to see more done, but we feel we are on the right path.

We’d also like to thank our production team SW1, headed by Katy Thomas and Susie Moore, who worked non-stop for days to bring us a quality event. Thanks also to our sponsors whose support is vital to the financial success of the event.

Special thanks to Mark and Sharron Doble for letting us use their land and finally, to all the bands, DJ’s, production and crew who worked for a much reduced fee all in the name of environmental pressure group SAS!!