UK: Earth First! Summer Gathering, August 12-17

From Earth First!

Earth First Summer Gathering 2026

12th- 17th August, Peak District

Nearest Train Station: Sheffield

Hear ye, Hear ye!! You are invited to five days of cross-movement pollination and solidarity in the form of workshops, skill shares, crafts, games and political education. These gatherings are a space for those who believe in the liberation of all life to put our heads together and dream new worlds into being. Come along and learn about past environmental struggles and movement victories, biocentrism, green anarchy, current direct action and social justice campaigns, and let’s figure out how we can tear the capitalist system a new one.

Beautiful surroundings, kid’s space, live music and late-night jams, delicious vegan scran, and much more, all within a stones throw of Sheffield! Bring ya hiking boots and your dancing shoes, it’s gonna be glorious!

More info including about accessibility and transport, wellbeing and covid will be shared here nearer the time. No need to sign up, just turn up and bring ya mates. If you need to get in touch, if you have a proposal or have any Qs you can email earthfirst.uk@proton.me

We don’t rely on algorithms or adverts to get the word out about these gatherings, we rely on you sharing this with your comrades and networks xxa black and white poster depicting a fire breathing eel burning down industry, their body is adorned with symbols of direct action including spray cans, chains and tools.

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Travel Planning Guide for Earth First! 2026 Summer Gathering

Site location

This year, EF! will be squatting a site in the Peak District. As it will be non-permissive, the exact location can’t be shared ahead of time. It will be shared on this website on the morning of Wednesday 12th August.

However, the rough location can still be shared, as it’s often important to make bookings in advance.

Traveling from the East (Sheffield)

It’s recommended that people coming from the East side of the country make their way to Sheffield. The site location is accessible by a direct bus ride from the city centre, lasting no more than 45 minutes and costing £3. The bus runs from the morning until the early evening — any gaps in the service should be filled by a shuttle.

It will then be a 5 minute walk on slightly bumpy, narrow, and then steep terrain. (We appreciate this sounds concerning to people with mobility needs — please email us earthfirst.uk@proton.me if you’d like to talk about options)

Sheffield is accessible by train and coach from virtually all major cities.

Traveling from the West (Manchester then Bamford)

If you are traveling from the West of the country, you are still welcome to make your way to Sheffield, however you may also find it easier to go to Manchester and then take the Hope Valley line to Bamford, from which the site will be a half-hour direct bus ride, costing £3.

Manchester is accessible by train and coach from virtually all major cities. The train to Bamford normally runs hourly from about 6am to 10pm and lasts about an hour.

The anytime fare is £15.10 (£10.05 with a railcard) for a single, or £19.60 (£13.05 with a railcard) for a return. Often cheaper advance tickets are available.

When to arrive and leave

Site setup will start from the early morning on Wednesday 12th August, however it may take a few hours to secure it enough to be able to publicly announce it. It should be announced by 10am, from which point everyone is welcome and encouraged to come help set up the site! If you’re planning on arriving early, bring some water and a packed lunch, as the first scheduled meal won’t be until the evening.

The gathering will last until Monday 17th, which is the pack down day. There will be breakfast, but no lunch and dinner. Everyone should expect to leave by mid afternoon — please stay and help us to pack down if you can, but as it’s a squat you may not want to linger too long after most others have left. There will be plenty of other pretty places nearby if you wanted to stay in the Peaks!

How much money?

This gathering is as DIY as it gets, and doing it ourselves also means funding it ourselves. No one profits off of these gatherings. No one gets paid.

Gatherings always run on a donation basis, and no one is turned away for lack of funds. At the welcome desk you will be able to donate whatever feels right, based on ‘solidarity pricing’:

Solidarity pricing: Have more, pay more. Have less, pay less.

Here’s a little guide to help you judge how much you can afford compared to others, it’s not just about income, other factors are important. Class, wealth and experiences of systemic oppression all play a part. Remember, it’s just a guide, an imperfect way to create a more economically liberating model while we work to smash capitalism and create different economic systems.

Some factors that can allow you to afford more:

- Having above average income

- Owning land or property

- Being likely to inherit property or wealth

- Having significant wealth, savings or investments

- Being easily able to meet basic needs and can afford luxuries (holidays, takeaway)

- Having recognised educational background and qualifications (good schools, degrees, postgrad etc.)

- Being easily able to get well paid work

- Having a safety net or strong social support networks (eg a parents house to retreat to, friends with money etc.)

Some factors that can reduce how much you can afford:

- Earning less than average income

- Supporting dependents or having care responsibilities (children, relatives, partners etc.)

- Having disabilities or long term ill-health

- Regularly being in contact with state/institutional violence

- Precarious migration status (eg being a Refugee, asylum seeker or person without papers)

- Being unable to legally work

- Experiencing financial distress (eg. unexpected court fees, losing a job, sudden rent increases)

- Experiencing systemic oppression due to things such as race, class, gender, neurodiversity, sexuality

No one is turned away for lack of funds, please don’t let cost put you off attending!

We all have different relationships to money and we encourage everyone to be honest with themselves. The emotions that come up when we talk about what we can afford can often cloud our judgement. Capitalism breeds a culture of scarcity — for some this feels like emotional instability and uncertainty, and for others this looks like material poverty and a lack of resources. It is impossible to talk about things like class, money, wealth or income without thinking about systemic oppressions like racism or ableism.

There are lots of hidden costs involved with gatherings like this. Some stuff can’t be found in bins or borrowed, and while we try to keep costs down, there is equipment we would like to purchase to make summer camps like this more accessible in the future, (eg track matting, a minibus, lighting, solar panels, hearing induction loop,.) By donating more generously you are helping achieve this!

No one turned away for lack of funds

No one is turned away from EF! for a lack of funds, but if you are planning on spending any money at the gathering, cash is preferred as there’s not a cash machine near the site!

EF! is as DIY as it gets, which means sometimes the card reader doesn’t have signal, and do you really want to give someone your whole entire government name so you do a bank transfer to buy their zine?

EF! doesn’t receive funding from billionaires and donations help cover costs like food, kit maintenance, hiring vans and buying equipment to increase accessibility of the gatherings. If you are unsure what you should contribute, please have a read of this solidarity pricing guide

Kit list

This is your (non-exhaustive) kit list for the EF! Summer Gathering!

tent, sleeping bag, roll mat or hammock, mosquito net, tarp

head torch, ear plugs, face mask

good shoes for lots of walking, sun cream, battery pack + cable

long trousers and socks (tick proofing!)

bug repellent (mosquito proofing! no nasty chemicals plz)

toothbrush, any meds you need for the week

bowl, mug, cutlery

crafts & propaganda

cash!! (for zines, books, snacks, donations to cover gathering costs)

Summer Gathering 2026 Entertainment

Amplified music can be very disruptive to wildlife, especially during periods of extreme weather when creatures are already stressed. We love a wild woodland rave as much as the next EF!er, however to make sure that our presence in the ecosystem is as low-impact as possible, evening entertainment will be an acoustic affair at this year’s summer gathering. We are looking for activities that everyone can get involved with in the evenings and will have some very special performances🐴🐷🐲. If you can host a evening activity, quiz, wide game, an open mic or a ceilidh please get in touch!

Earthfirst.uk@proton.me

Summer Gathering Workshops 2026

The workshop schedule for the EF! Summer Gathering is filling up!!

EF!ers asked for more hands-on and practical workshops and opportunities to learn with our whole bodies, so to meet this need there will be workshops on 12V electrics, climbing, herbalism, tech security and more! Please get in touch if you have your own practical skills to share!

To follow on from convos at the last year summer gathering there will be workshops on topics such as cancel culture, artificial intelligence & data centres, and movement strategy. We’re especially interested to include workshops on themes such as prison abolition or ecocide & the military industrial complex. If you have one on those topics please get in touch!

And because we are always welcoming new people into the movement, we will have our regular workshops discussing key principles of green ecological direct action movements, including workshops on green anarchy & biocentrism, and an intro to EF!

To get in touch, email earthfirst.uk@proton.me

Kitchen, kids' space, and kick ass workshops

Can you help run kids activities at the summer gathering? Or a wide game or craft activity that everyone can get involved with?

Can you help in the kitchen? We need folks who are creative and confident in catering for the masses, who can help make sure everyone gets fed!

Can you run a workshop or offer some evening entertainment? Skill shares, wide games, a ceilidh even?!

If you can help fill one of these essential roles during the gathering then drop us an email at earthfirst.uk@proton.me