The Castlemorton Common Festival was a week-long free festival and rave held in the Malvern Hills near Malvern, Worcestershire, England in 1992.
In May 1992 Avon and Somerset Police tried to end the annual Avon Free Festival, which had been held in the Bristol area around the May Bank Holiday for several years.[1] As a result, thousands of gypsies, new age travellers and ravers en route to the area for the expected festival were shunted into neighbouring counties by Avon and Somerset’s Operation Nomad police manoeuvres. An estimated 20,000-40,000 [2] people gathered on Castlemorton Common to hold a free party that lasted a full week, the biggest of its kind since the Stonehenge Free Festival in the mid 1980s.
Stonehenge Free Festival
1980 : The tribes celebrate the solstice with a jam .© Paul Seaton
These were the years when the festival grew from a gathering of a few thousand hard core freaks to a major attraction (although still almost exclusively ignored by the rock press who were too busy hyping the likes of Spandau Ballet and Bow Wow Wow ) .With the increase in size came hassles that had not existed when the festival had begun. Pressure increased on facilities such as toilets , extra fields had to be used, which did not please the farmer who owned the land and there was an increasing police presence. - strip and search activites increased and a petition was delivered to the police about this invasion of human rights , which more or less amounted to harrassment based on appearance and attendance at a festival.Bev a traveller and a strong believer in the sacredness and spirituality of the Stones, wrote of this period .'to me there was an important spiritual journey that was going alongside the daily life , this it was that gave such power to the midsummer celebration at the stones .. sadly though as the festival grew so the spiritual side seemed to diminish, in 77 there were less than 2,000 people at the festival and 1400 went into the stones - by 84 nearly 40000 were at the festival while less than 1.000 offered themselves in the circle , though in the prohibition years 85 up to 99( when the authorities relaxed some ) there was a growth of spirituality and many hundreds walked to the stones each year... in the face of harassment and brutal attacks from the police... now the respectable pagans (Druids and the like )) are trying to do deals for themselves that will once again deny the wild magic in this holy place and refuse those who serve a less ordered spirit 'The late John Pendragon wrote in his newsletter Tribal Messenger'The Stonehenge festival , for myself and thousands of other people . was about the opposite to commercialism and war. It was about love, peace, sharing, happiness, ecology, beauty, brotherhood and sisterhood, Yin and Yang, meditation and celebration, physical and spiritual awareness , Rock and Roll, music and theatre, sunshine and sun-bathing, alternative lifestyle and cosmic energy.' http://www.ukrockfestivals.com/henge-history-80-82.html
- 3 million gallons of water were drunk, 2,500 toilets were used, and 800,000 million gallons of human waste were collected - nice! But Bob St Barbe, Glastonbury's sanitation chief explained: "It's fun to work with shit! It's very creative."
- More than a quarter of the 140,000 people at Glasto were working - as either volunteers, security, performers, press, or crew. Over 1000 litter pickers sorted out all the mess, with half of those doing the dirty deed for a free ticket.
- The average age of Glastonbury goers fell by around 15 years, compared to 2003. Michael Eavis said: "I'm delighted. That's why I put tickets on sale at 8pm rather than when all the kids are at school." Wonder what the rate is for Liverpudlian scallies since the wall went up?
- More than 2 per cent of festival goers were treated for some form of illness or injury over the weekend. More than 250 people were injured in 'slip and trip' incidents caused by unseen guide ropes. VF's very own hellraiser Chris was one of them, spending an hour and a half in the medical tent on Friday night after his epiglottis swelled up to the size of a testicle - a condition associated with swallowing too many pills. Chris confirmed, with a cheeky grin, that "the immodium definitely worked!"
- One member of the English National Opera was so taken by Glastonbury after geting off stage that she 'got lost' while the rest of the company left to fly to Germany for a performance. Sadly for her, she was found moshing to Morrissey and bundled onto a plane in time for her gig.
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