Discarded sleeping bags from music festival in Ireland distributed to homeless

The Electric Picnic Music and Arts Festival took place between 31st August and 2nd September. Around 55,000 people attended the event this year and capacity is to be increased by 2,500 to 57,500 people next year. After the Festival was over, 650 sleeping bags were left by those attending. This prompted volunteers from Portlaoise Action to Homelessness (PATH) to request community help to launder the sleeping bags they collected from the festival site. The aim is to wash and dry the bags so they can be handed out to homeless people. The public response to the PATH appeal has been fantastic. The PATH team brought the sleeping bags to Laois Shopping Centre on Thursday evening and within an hour 400 sleeping bags were taken by the local community to be laundered. The remaining sleeping bags are now also being cleaned. Members of PATH travel to Dublin every Saturday where they distribute essential goods, including hot food and drinks and sleeping bags to homeless people.

Electric Picnic is an annual arts-and-music festival that takes place at Stradbally Hall in the Irish town of Stradbally, County Laois (Irish: An Sráidbhaile, Contae Laoise). Since it started in 2004 the festival has gone from strength to strength and is noted for its headline performers, eclectic choice of music, and wide range of activities. There are stages and venues spread over the grounds of Stradbury Hall for the Festival period where different perfomances and workshops are held. Included this year were readings of Seamus Heaney poems, an Irish language day and comedy night.