HW: Free Festivals

[Alastair Sumner]

Ok, I've just been doing a bit more research when I should be working and
I've found some very interesing stuff. This page mentions the festival site
that formed at Cholderton Woods where there were about 2000 people. The
year is 1988 so I think this is probably the first year I went.

http://www.greenleaf.demon.co.uk/h880808.htm

I think this is where I was and the funny thing was that everyone I knew
from my home town, about 20 people, all converged from different places
onto the same site.

This page documents the trouble that flared up around the hele stone.

http://www.greenleaf.demon.co.uk/h880914.htm

I was quite a few rows back in the crowd facing the hele stone and I
remember the anarchist flag being hoisted up and the guys on top of the
stone. Then I remember objects being hurled at the police and the police
charges into the crowd. You couldn't really see what was happening, just
the person in front of you turn around, so you turned around to and ran for
fear of being stampeded.

Now this is the most interesting bit for me.

'Meanwhile the charge continued in the field to the North where I saw a
group of youths throwing stones at the police as they retreated. This was
the only retaliation I witnessed during the advance. As it seemed the
advance was going to persevere I and some others removed ourselves down the
back road to Amesbury. I had begun to be concerned about my property at
Cholderton and wished to return there before the police.'

If that was the only group of youths throwing stones then he is referring
to the crowd of people I was amongst during the dispersal of the crowd.
Although I didn't actually throw anything, I did observe it including a
laughable attempt to stampede a herd of apathetic grass chewing milk cows
into the police lines. The violence was fairly minimal though.

I also remember looking over to the road and seeing the tail end of a
confrontation there, police shoving people back. I think this is probably
what is being descibed here. I remember the screaming and shouting caught
my attention.

'When we had been driven past the fork of the road at Stonehenge Bottom
there was a pause. We were now on the A303 towards Amesbury and it was
before dawn but getting light, perhaps about 4.20AM. It seemed to me
incredible, because it was not justified by anything the crowd were doing,
but a line of attack was now forming across the dual carriageway to
continue the charge. This was sudden and forceful and on (I think) three
occasions the crowd on the road began to run. This was frightening as they
threatened to knock us down or drive everyone into a stampede. I spent some
effort shouting "Don't run! Walk! Move slowly! Don't panic!" as I saw the
situation as potentially dangerous.'

This description is so exact that I am sure it was 1988 when I first went.
The following year there were much less people and even more police. I
think very few people even got within a mile of the stones.

Alastair.

On Fri, 26 Jul 2002 14:52:53 +0100, M Holmes <fofp at HOLYROOD.ED.AC.UK> wrote:

>Alastair Sumner writes:
>
>> 1987 would make sense because the police seemed a little reluctant to lay
>> right in after the roasting they got after the battle of the beanfield.
So
>> in 87 you could get almost to the stones but they were surrounded by riot
>> police.
>
>Yeah. I had fun that year. I may have archived my report of it. Will
>post if I can find it. Note though that I was a kid then (hell, I had
>all  y own hair) and my writing style wasn't what you'd call developed.
>
>> But 88 must have been the year when they really enforced the 4 mile
>> exclusion zone and killed off the Stonehenge festival.
>
>Yep. That rings a bell. I started going to Glastonbury regularly at that
>point.
>
>> Are there any travellers left in the UK now? I know that after the
criminal
>> justice bill was introduced many went to mainland Europe and beyond.
>
>Some. In fact on my travels last week I stopped behind the Glasters site
>to see it without all the stuff. There's a colony of folks living in
>kinda benders made out of stuff they found on skips. There are 20
>adults, several kids. They've bought the land, dug a well, put in solar
>power and are growing a lot of vegetables and berries. They were very
>friendly and invited us into their homes to have a look around. Most
>have day jobs so they're not completely independent or anything.
>
>FoFP