HW: Free Festivals

[M Holmes]

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