Andy Worthington
I’m sure the impending 20th anniversary of the Battle of the Beanfield hasn’t slipped anyone’s memory – and if it’s something you don’t know about, the basic story is that on 1st June 1985, a convoy of vehicles en route to Stonehenge to establish the 12th annual free festival was set upon and ‘decommissioned’ with extreme brutality by the police.
To mark the anniversary, a few venues around the country will be hosting an exhibition of photos of the Stonehenge festivals, the Beanfield, and the exclusion zone – including photos by Tash and Adrian Arbib, as well some little-seen photos of the Beanfield. On the opening nights, we’ll also be showing ‘Operation Solstice’, the acclaimed 1991 documentary about the Beanfield, and I’ll be giving a talk on the Beanfield and its aftermath, based – in part – on my book Stonehenge: Celebration and Subversion.
The opening night of the first of this year’s shows is next Wednesday (16 March), at 7.30 pm, at the Kebele Kulture Project, 14 Robertson Road, Easton, Bristol, BS5 6JY, where the exhibition will run until 7 April.
On Wednesday 20 April, the exhibition will move to SUMAC, 245 Gladstone Street, Nottingham, NG7 6HX, where there will also be a showing of ‘Operation Solstice’ and I’ll also be giving a talk. The opening night starts at 8pm, and the exhibition will run until 8 May.
I’m also collating some information for a small book to commemorate the anniversary, with Neil Goodwin, the co-director of ‘Operation Solstice’, and other interested parties, featuring, among other things, a cache of photos, most of which have never seen the light of day, transcripts of interviews made during the making of ‘Operation Solstice’ and other documentation from the time, so if you’ve got anything to contribute, please feel free to contact me.
There’s more to come, but I reckon that’ll do for now.
All the best,
Andy
Kebele: www.kebele.org or 0117 939 9469
SUMAC: www.veggies.org.uk/diary.htm
Stonehenge: Celebration and Subversion: www.hoap.co.uk/alternative.htm
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