Gosh! Release hasn’t got any money. That is news!
Just had yet another e-mail asking for free work. This orgaisation, I’ve associated with since the mid-1970’s though. Release!
Acting Director, taken over from Mike Goodman. I don’t think we have met personally, I ‘m based in Nottingham at the moment, and years in Wales before then.
But eons ago, in the 1970’s, I was a Release Volunteer on the e-phone rota in London, [was an accident ambulanceman at the time] . Think it was 1974 at Windsor Great Park, when us ‘urban charity workers’ noticed a need for welfare provision at these outdoor illegal events. We called ourselves, the ‘Festivals Branch’ of Release. Bob Nightingale, Harry Podlewski, Tim Malyon, Roger Duncan, Viki Stangrome. All Release people. We did a big festival at Watchfield airfield in Oxfordshire 1975 as this crew. However the following year, we took on more volunteers, and called ourselves ‘Festival Aid’. This now including work with festival goers, travellers, and liason with authority. Next to all this, we formed the ‘umbrella’ organisation. ‘Festival Welfare Services’, with a charity number and everything!. Penny Mellor was the field worker, and I remained a trustee, to it end…. This was supposed to ‘co-ordinate; Release, Festival Aid, Travellera Aid Trust, Local Volunteers, St John, Red Cross, Quackers, arrangement with local authority, police etc.
Festival ‘Organisers’ were frightened of coming forward, because of the threat of civil injunction. But I was important to still maintain contact, so we were able to take a pace forward, and be intermediaries. Nothing to do with organising the festival at all really you know, We’re just missionaries and ‘do-gooders’ in attendance.
You may know that this is one of the reasons I felt I was ‘targeted for ‘legal action’ . That we were an ‘effective organisation’ to the groups, the authorities were trying to ‘deal with’.
Operation Nomad: Avon and Somerset police had a secret intelligence document on me. They stated that I photograph and tape record police operations and make complaints. That they should Beware!.
I was anonymously sent a copy of a restricted document titled `Operation Nomad Bulletin’. Operation Nomad was a surveillance and information gathering exercise looking into the activities of New Age Travellers and now `raves’ such as Castlemorton. In this document, officers are instructed to beware of my activities and that I photograph and tape record police operations.
Further mention is made of my involvement in photographing and the bringing of civil actions after the `Battle of the Beanfield’ incident near Stonehenge in 1985. Yet further, it goes on to say that I am a drug dealer.
As I am not!!, I believe that this information was inserted so as to make my work as jobbing photo journalist, more difficult. It was also calculated to undermine my position with Festival Welfare Services and the Travellers Aid Trust in liaison with various authorities.
All this in more detail at http://tash.gn.apc.org/nomad_10.htm
I collected some of my own legal adventures together.
Access from this page: http://tash.gn.apc.org/legal_assortment.htm
I have been maintaining a diary o where I’ve been, and think that this is a resource, to show where welfare work has been done. http://tash.gn.apc.org/diary.htm
New Statesman again! Nice to get help from others also! It was the advent of the Criminal Justice Act, and the Mag offered us the space to make a CJA ‘pull-out’ called ‘United Your Nicked’. Wont they do something like that for you
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helping old friends? @ Release
Hi Tash,
Sorry to introduce myself like this. I’m currently acting director of Release; I know that you had many dealings with us when Judy, Mike, Greg and other were still here. I’m trying to rescue the organisation from the doldrums at the moment. the New Statesman has kindly agreed to give us advertising space to appeal for support and funds and we have been trying to source a suitable image for the ad: the idea is that the top bit of the ad will be a “then and now” picture…saying something like “in 1974 you called us after that incident at the Avon Free Festival….”Help us make sure that they have somwhere to turn to if they ever need help…” The images will be of a festy scene mid seventies/early eighties on the left and a club/dance event on the right.
The design company have failed miserably to come up with an image that fits for the seventies/eighties festy scene, and time is ticking a way on us. I was hoping therefore that you would be able to help with a suitable image. Something like the Stonehenge ‘81 pic on your website would be about perfect.
If you think that you would be able to help, please phone or e-mail me. I look forward to hearing from you.
best wishes
kevin flemen
