Well since Thursday last week, I’m now the owner of a Nikon D70 dSLR camera with an 18mm-70mm DX lens. {Oh, and can use my old Nikon lenses, but in manual mode. Still very useful]
So, to get used to the cameras behaviour, settings, response to colour, biases, I tried a number of subjects, movement and colours.
This set is not about anything, just what’s floated past me in the last few days ….
On my photoBlog at:
http://tashcamuk.fotopages.com/?entry=164881
http://tashcamuk.fotopages.com/?entry=163975
Well, the festival had largely finished, [see yesterday] and was getting set to leave. Walking down the track, this teenager says, “I’ll do a wheely for you mister”. And gosh, he does, for about 30 feet. I took a few on the motor wind, but these few give the idea.
Then, just by the gate, there is a pretty ‘backdrop’, drapped over a wall. Intersting in it own right I thought, so I did a few of the artwork. Some kids, when they see someone with a camera, frequently say “take my picture mister”, and so did these three. I’m a bit biased perhaps, but think these ones are splendid and spontaneous.
More pictures on Indymedia at:
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2004/07/295011.html
With a bigger set on my Photoblog at:
http://tashcamuk.fotopages.com/?entry=162996
check ’em out ……..
A pleasent weekend event, attended by young and old. A community festival, now entering its 6th Year. The weather was uncertain though, with the occassional shower, sending ’em scurrying to the marquees.
http://www.treefest.co.uk/index.htm
Newstead Treefest is a weekend festival focusing on music, arts, crafts, health and the environment held on a reclaimed Greenfield site formerly the location of Newstead Colliery in Newstead Village, Nottinghamshire.
Map: http://www.multimap.com/p/browse.cgi?local=h&scale=50000&pc=NG150BS
The D70 Nikon Digital SLR. Have been waiting for progress and developments for ages. The quality / value of this device is amazing, and I have decided to get one.
They have been humungus abouts of money, but are falling in price and, specs are still going up.
Here are a couple of Nikon pages about it, but there are large numbers of reviews and advice, so, am ploughing through it as and when I can.
http://nikonimaging.com/global/products/digitalcamera/slr/d70/index.htm
http://www.europe-nikon.com/details.aspx?countryid=20&languageid=22&prodId=909&catId=91
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/nikond70
Any photographers with a view about this camera, or, with any advice to offer me, please drop me a mail.
Manufacturer’s DescriptionNikon is pleased to announce the introduction of a new interchangeable-lens digital SLR camera that delivers Nikon’s patented digital and photographic performance, high resolution, sharp detail and accurate, vivid colour combined with a new level of advanced functions and automated operation: the Nikon D70.
Continuing the heritage of hallmark Nikon digital performance established with the launch of the D1 and successful introduction of the Nikon DX Format in1999, the D70 stands ready to expand the digital SLR camera market. Designed for a broad range of customers, from novices to serious and experienced photo enthusiasts, the D70 allows photographers to easily adopt digital technology into their existing camera system, or to begin building a system that will bring ongoing enjoyment in the future.
The D70 employs the popular Nikon DX Format sensor and Nikon F lens mount design. This maintains seamless compatibility with all AF Nikkor lenses while allowing photographers to take full advantage of high quality DX Nikkor lenses, designed exclusively for Nikon’s D-series digital SLR cameras and optimised to achieve outstanding centre-to-edge-to-corner image quality. Developed concurrently as a perfect match for daily use with the D70 and compatible with all Nikon D-Series SLR models, the new AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5G IF-ED combines top performance and outstanding value.
The D70 is ready to use the instant it is turned on. The 5-area autofocus system is fast and precise, and includes an AF-assist illuminator to help maximize performance even in dark shooting conditions. It can shoot a rapid 3 frames per second for a continuous burst of 144 pictures (when using JPEG NORMAL – Large settings, and a SanDisk SDCHF256MB CompactFlash card) thanks to improved buffer memory handling, faster image processing, increased memory card access speed and greater system bus bandwidth.
Controls are located for easy access and smooth operation. Menus are presented clearly and in plain language on the large LCD monitor. All the camera’s systems have been optimised to deliver quick response. And, innovative new shooting options have been added to simplify the photographic process, whether controlled manually or via advanced automatic operation. Nikon’s seven new automated Digital Vari-Program selections accessed from the new Mode dial offer a combination of personal control and powerful automatic operation that helps achieve great results under even the most complex shooting conditions.
Shutter speeds of 30 to 1/8,000 sec. ensure full creative control. The built-in auto pop-up flash can synchronize at shutter speeds of up to 1/500 sec. for great fill flash effects. Sensitivity can be set between ISO 200 to 1600 or controlled automatically across the same range of settings to maximize available light.
A new 6.1 effective megapixel Nikon DX Format CCD image sensor featuring wider dynamic range and a higher signal to noise ratio produces 3,008 x 2,000-pixel images with high resolution and superbly sharp details suited for making large prints, or for cropping for creative detail.
The D70’s advanced System LSI processor is programmed for next generation performance to produce the finest in vivid colours and clarity, while maximizing the speed of file compression, memory buffer handling, simultaneous recording of JPEG and NEF (Nikon Electronic Format) files, and near-instant LCD image display.
Nikon’s acclaimed 3D Colour Matrix Meter with 1,005-pixel sensor assures accurate auto TTL white balance. Six different manual white balance modes, preset white balance, and white balance bracketing are also available for full creative control. Exposure compensation and flash exposure compensation combine with auto exposure bracketing to further aid in achieving the perfect shot.
The rechargeable high-energy EN-EL3 lithium-ion battery that earned high acclaim in the D100 delivers the power to shoot up to 2,000 images on a single charge. The D70 also comes with a battery holder, which lets you use disposable batteries as well, should the need or desire arise.
Diverse playback options, versatile custom settings, a USB interface for easy connectivity or direct printing to any PictBridge compatible printer, and a bevy of other features packed into the lightest and most compact Nikon digital SLR camera to date make the D70 the best performing camera in its class.
Box Contents
DX lens specially developed for Digital SLRs, the AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 18-70 f/3.5-4.5G IF-ED
Quick Charger MH-18
Rechargeable Li-ion battery EN-EL3
Nikon Software CD-ROM
Video cable
USB cable
LCD monitor cover BM-4
MS-D70 CR2 battery holder
Neck Strap AN-D70
Body cap
Eyepiece cap With the lens: Front cap LC-67, back cap LF-1, lens soft case
Quite an interesting weekend. I had used the projectors at the party, and before I packed it all away on sunday evening, though I’d try these out.
It didn’t work to well on Cassy’s black skin, but on us whities …..
I tried a few using some transparencies I’d taken of an abstract painting. Tried a few to look for form, texture, saturation, composition, oh a few variables really, but what’s pleasing is more important. So I did some of myself, then Ben did some of me. Then I did some of Ben …….
We got Henry’s pants down, and did him as well.
I’m going to try some of these, using photographs on bodies.
What about a picture of a body, projected on the body. A future fine arts project perhaps.
More examples from this series at:
More hippies discovered.
Dop into the forum at
and check it out. I have just joined. I think I’m a hippy
On 12 January 2004 one of the very few uplifting victories for Travellers facing eviction occurred at Bulkington Fields, when over 100 Travellers living at the site dug ditches, built barricades, and resisted together a shameful eviction of the families from land
they owned. The successful battle against bailiffs (Constant and Co) and the council gave the Travellers time to get an injunction until their case was decided at High Court, bringing up issues of caused homelessness under the Human Rights Act. They lost this case and knew they faced imminent eviction, but thought they might receive some notice of the day that they would be forced off their land they were wrong.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/coventry_warwickshire/3387447.stm
In the early morning hours of Wedenesday, 30 June an estimated 100 bailiffs and police in riot gear without any prior warning stormed the site and forcefully evicted the families from their homes and land, arresting 4 people. Their land paid for in full has been repossessed by the council to cover the cost of the eviction. Any hope for continuity,
education, or stability for their children has lost for now.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/coventry_warwickshire/3852573.stm
In protest, the Travellers are now squatting local land. We are waiting to see what support they need. In the meantime, we are asking people to do what little is possible at the moment and send letters of protest to Nuneaton council at the email addresses listed below.
Protest to: planning@nuneatonandbedworth.gov.uk
legal@nuneatonandbedworth.gov.uk
* * * * * *
Four held as travellers evicted BBC News
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/coventry_warwickshire/3852573.stm
Four people have been arrested on suspicion of a breach of the peace as six families of travellers were evicted from a plot of land in Warwickshire.
About 100 police officers and bailiffs moved in to the site in Wolvey Road, Bulkington, at 0730 BST on Wednesday.
The travellers had already lost a fight in the High Court to stay on the land.
The council, which has offered to re-house the families, had to postpone an earlier eviction attempt when the group set fire to caravans to deter bailiffs.
Police said that all four people arrested have since been released without charge.
Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council has been trying for years to get the travellers to leave the site, which they own but built on without planning permission.
A spokesman for the travellers said bailiffs and police in riot gear turned up at the site on Wednesday morning.
“Only six out of the normal 20 families are on the site as the rest are off travelling.
“When they return they will have no homes,” he told BBC News Online.
“There are lots of bailiffs here and police in riot gear carrying batons are stood behind them.
“They don’t understand that we have nowhere to go, we’re just going to have to pack up and pull into the nearest lay-by.”
About 20 families have been living on land for three years.
The council offered to re-house the families in permanent homes after winning an eviction order at the High Court in November.
The group refused the offer on the basis that the houses would not be compatible with their way of life.
David Wilshaw, the solicitor representing the travellers, told BBC News Online he was trying to find ways to protect the group.
“A High Court judge told the local authority there should be cooperation, but I don’t call bailiffs turning up on the doorstep at 7 or 8am without prior warning co-operation by any means.”
But Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council denied it had acted unreasonably.
Alan Franks, director of environmental services, said: “I would argue they (the travellers) had plenty of advance notice to leave the site.
“This unlawful development has been on site in excess of three years.”
Although the travellers own the site in Bulkington, they were served with an eviction order because they put up fences and driveways on the green belt land without planning permission.
The council postponed an eviction in January after the group dug trenches, formed a human shield and set fire to caravans to prevent bailiffs from evicting them.
But after two years of legal wrangling, which cost the local authority just under £100,000, the High Court last month upheld an earlier ruling that the authority was within its rights to evict the families.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/england/coventry_warwickshire/3852573.stm
Five protesters arrested at RAF Fairford on the eve of the Iraq war start
their bid to win a landmark ruling at the appeal court today. Clare Dyer
explains
Clare Dyer
Tuesday June 29, 2004
The Guardian
It was just after seven on the night of March 13 2003 when Margaret Jones
and Paul Milling saw the helicopter fly over RAF Fairford. From their
reconnoitres of the base, they knew that meant the coast was clear. There
were rumblings of war, and massed ranks of US B-52 bombers stood ready
to take off for Iraq once the word came through. Though the two peace
activists didn’t know it then, the US and Britain were to launch their
armed strike on Iraq just one week later.
Jones, 55, a former university lecturer in American literature from Bristol,
and Milling, 57, a handyman from Birmingham who now lives in the Lake
District, are members of the peace group Trident Ploughshares. They met
at a protest at Fairford, but with war looming they felt they had to
do more than just wave banners and march. They decided to try to disable
the tankers used for refuelling the planes and the trailers that transported
the bombs for loading on to the bombers.
“The obvious thing would be to disable a plane. But if you do a plane
it’s one plane and there are 14 of them,” explains Jones. “But if you
do the support system, you have the potential capacity to ground the
whole fleet for quite a while. We thought, if they haven’t got fuel on
the planes yet and they haven’t got the bombs on, they’re not going anywhere
till they’ve sorted out those two jobs.”
A full moon lit their way as they slipped down a back road and slit the
chain-link fence with bolt cutters. They were in the bomb compound full
of low loaders and trailers used for transporting the bombs to the planes.
“We put sand in a couple of petrol tanks and cut the brake pipes on as
many low loaders as we could reach.” At one point, when they were under
the low loaders, “we heard American voices and a pair of legs in camouflage
appeared. We waited for a face to come down and find us”. But the men
went away. “We put labels on some of the vehicles saying ‘out of order’,
‘illegal activity’, ‘do not use’, so nobody would have an accident.”
Crossing the road and deploying their bolt cutters again, they entered
the main airfield. “We went into a fuel compound where we found three
big fuel tankers. The first cab we tried swung open and there was a key
in the ignition. We took a hammer and smashed all the windows and the
dials on the cab. Having smashed all this glass, we thought surely now
somebody would come and arrest us but nobody came. We worked very thoroughly
through the other two vehicles.
“Just then a long shadow fell and a young American soldier came round
the corner and looked absolutely horrified. I felt more for that guy
than for me because he look absolutely freaked. He had a gun but he pointed
it at the ground the whole time.”
The US military put the cost of their night’s work at more than £80,000.
Milling and Jones now face trial on charges of criminal damage, which
could put them in jail for up to 10 years. With a trial looming, both
media and defendants are usually circumspect about what they say for
fear of prejudicing the outcome. But unlike most defendants pleading
not guilty to serious criminal charges, Milling and Jones readily admit
what they did. They argue, however, that they have a defence which could
allow a jury to acquit them – that they were trying to prevent an illegal
war.
In a hearing which starts today in the court of appeal, three judges
will decide how far that defence is open to them and to three other peace
activists who also breached, or tried to breach, the fences at Fairford
in the lead-up to the war. Toby Olditch and Philip Pritchard broke into
Fairford on March 18, and in a separate initiative Josh Richards was
arrested on the same day trying to enter the base. Pritchard, 33, and
Olditch, 35, both from Oxford, who tried to ground bombers, are charged
with conspiring to cause criminal damage and possessing articles, including
bolt cutters and glue, with intent to destroy or damage property.
Richards, 30, of Bristol, was caught trying to get into the base with
pliers, cigarette lighters and containers of petrol mixed with detergent.
He faces charges of attempted arson, criminal damage to the fence, and
having articles with him which he intended to use to damage or destroy
property.
The five face three separate trials but all deny the charges and are
putting forward the same defences. Last month a high court judge, Mr
Justice Grigson, ruled that the courts are barred from inquiring into
the legality of the war. Matters of defence and foreign policy, including
decisions to launch a war, are covered by crown prerogative and cannot
be questioned in a court of law, he said.
But in an unprecedented ruling, the judge held that while foreign policy
cannot be examined in court, the “secondary effects” of the policy can.
So the five would be entitled to mount a defence on the basis that they
were acting to prevent the commission of war crimes as set out in the
International Criminal Court Act 2001. The act does not make the waging
of war a crime, but categorises certain specific acts committed abroad
as offences triable in the UK courts. These acts include attacking or
bombing undefended buildings which are not military objectives, or
destroying
enemy property where this is not demanded by the necessities of war.
The five want to raise three standard defences to criminal charges –
two applicable to any crime and the third only to charges of criminal
damage – which entitle a jury, if it accepts that any of them applied
to the circumstances of the defendants’ actions, to acquit them of what
would otherwise be a crime. The judge ruled that these three defences
could, in principle, be put before the juries at their trials. The first
defence is that they were acting through necessity to prevent death or
serious injury – that they reasonably believed Iraqis would be killed
or seriously injured and that they acted reasonably and proportionately
to try to prevent it, even though their actions were themselves a crime.
The second is that they were trying to prevent a crime, a defence allowed
under the Criminal Law Act 1967. They say that the manner in which force
was to be used in Iraq amounted to a war crime.
The third defence is “lawful excuse”, which applies only to cases of
criminal damage. This is available where a defendant believes his actions
were reasonable to prevent danger to property – in this case, the property
of the Iraqi people who were about to be bombed.
Both prosecution and defence are appealing against the judgment. The
defence hopes to overturn the ruling barring any inquiry into the legality
of the war. The crime of “aggression”, defence lawyers argue, is an offence
contrary to international and domestic law, which the five were trying
to prevent. The prosecution, on the other hand, argues that the defences
of necessity and lawful excuse are not available where action is taken
to prevent the use of force in a foreign country in the exercise of a
crown prerogative which is not itself challengeable in the UK courts.
So far the courts have refused all attempts to persuade them to pronounce
on the legality of the war against Iraq. The Campaign for Nuclear
Disarmament
went to the high court in December 2002 to argue that a fresh UN resolution
was required before war could be launched on Iraq, but the judges decided
they had no power to interpret a UN resolution.
Whether the war was lawful or unlawful is not an issue that will trouble
the judges hearing today’s appeal either. They will simply have to decide
which defences the law allows the Fairford Five to put forward. Once
the trial starts and the evidence is heard, it will still be open to
the trial judge to exclude a particular defence on the evidence.
Nor will the 36 jurors in the three trials have to make up their minds
on the war’s legality when the time comes for their deliberations. Their
task will be to decide what the defendants believed at the time, whether
their belief was reasonable, and whether their response was reasonable
and proportionate. And, since juries’ views are secret, we will never
know the reasons for the verdicts they eventually give.
Well, it all comes another step forward then.
Bloody heck!
over the last few years, we have had this 4 or 5 times a year, while we keep thinking an argument got one, and oh no, round it goes again ……
So, having heard the news, on the world at one, I realise that there is to be a pilot program, ahead of compulsion, Xyears in the future.
10,000 volunteers are to be enrolled on the first tests. I had contacted the Home Office, to enquire if these folks are to be specially invited, or, is it anyone that volunteers. I am told the latter, and have therefore just left my name, address and phone number as an ‘interested party’. Depending on what they send me, will give it a read, and may well volunteer.
All this out of academic interest, of course 🙂
just got back in from getting ‘done’ at the ID card trial.
Quite a painless exercise. They took all fingerprints, a face picture [with a four position facial ‘map’] and an iris read. This was done from about 15″ away, a little surprising that, since I thought it was right up close, like looking into a microscope. Then I signed an electronic pad. That was the databasing side. Filled out a questionnaire, while card was prepared.
Then there is the verification phase. They took my card, stuck it into the reader. I was asked to sit at similar machine that scanned my face. It took a few seconds. then the computer, whirred and rattled, then everything stopped, a few worried looks! then it started again, the screen showed my name and details. So it worked. Well, at least with a sample of 3859 folks to compare on the database. That’s as far as they’ve got now.
Not sure what a terrorist is going to make of all this. If is catches a few, that’s good of course. But with my experience of plod, I can see how awkward it is going to be for some folks ……
My pet fear still remains a policeman / soldier / neighbourhood wardens perhaps, being able to approach you in the street, and without any further evidence or suspicion, say to you “Papers”. and there we are, right back in the 1930’s Germany etc ……
ho hum.
Identity Cards
Home Office
50 Queen Anne’s Gate
London
SW1H 9AT
ID helpline: 0207 3473023
http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/comrace/identitycards/index.html
Volunteer: Home Office Identity Card Scheme
If you would like to sign up as a volunteer for the biometrics enrolment trial which UK Passport Service are undertaking, the recruitment of volunteers is being managed by MORI (Market & Opinion Research International). Any request to take part in the trial should be directed to: Melanie Briere on telephone number 020 7347 3023, e-mail trial@mori.com, or via http://www.mori.com/candc/passport.shtml.
28/06/2004
A world away from today’s money-spinning Glastonbury, the Windsor Free Festival of 1974 was illegal, drug-happy and absurdly idealistic, recalls Mark Hudson
Staggering across Windsor Great Park with my rucksack, I caught sight of a great encampment of tents, teepees, branch-and-polythene shelters and many thousands of dazed-looking long-haired people.
And in the glade beyond was gathered a great Babel of bizarre alternative groups – from ultra-Leftist White Panthers to the Divine Light Mission and
the notorious Children of God – everyone there with the intention of creating a perfect society, right there, spontaneously, illegally. And nobody was in control.
Something gets into Britain’s air every festival season. There’s a prickling under the skin of the nation’s youth – the feeling that, whether through burning sun or lakes of mud, you simply have to be there. But at today’s Glastonbury and Reading festivals, this yearning for generational togetherness has been safely corporatised. The world-changing agendas that powered Woodstock and Monterey have been replaced by a super-organised but anodyne bill of, well, rock music.
As one 17-year-old put it to me, that epoch-making sense of seizing the time is long gone: “If you miss it one year, you can see it all again the next.”
Perhaps that’s why the hippy era – after so long in the cultural dustbin – has become a subject of such fascination. From Ken Kesey’s Acid Tests and Allen Ginsberg at the Albert Hall to the Woodstock and Isle of Wight festivals, every last manifestation of countercultural utopianism has been the subject of some breathless article or TV documentary.
But of an event that was arguably more outrageous than all of these – an event that dared to take on the established order on the Queen’s own private land, while offering free LSD to all who couldn’t afford it – almost nothing has been heard.
I’m talking about the Windsor Free Festival of 1974 – the last stand of the psychedelic underground. While Glastonbury, that other legendary early-’70s free festival, has gone on to become Britain’s biggest rock event and a super-efficient capitalist money-spinner, Windsor is now little more than a bedraggled and rather bitter folk memory. Yet for weeks before and after its sudden and violent conclusion, Windsor dominated the headlines more than any British rock event before or since.
I was there: an idealistic 17-year-old who got up to read his poetry. But what I regret most is not the smashing of an ideal, nor the fact that I managed to miss the climactic battle, nor even the no doubt appalling quality of my poetry, but the fact that I didn’t get off with the dervish-dancing girl in the kimono.
“Free festivals were something that was in the air at the time,” says photographer John “Hoppy” Hopkins, a veteran of Britain’s “underground” from its origins in the early 1960s Beat scene. “They were about participating, rather than just sitting waiting for things to happen. To an extent, it grew out of squatting. Historically all these Crown Lands have been ripped off from the people. So the idea of putting Windsor Great Park to constructive use seemed very interesting.”
The three Windsor festivals were the brainchild of Bill “Ubi” Dwyer, a clerk at Her Majesty’s Stationery Office then in his forties, who – no doubt unbeknown to his employers – had been deported from Australia for dealing in LSD. While walking in the parkland around Windsor Castle, he had a Blakean vision of a psychedelic New Jerusalem, in which he would hold a free festival on that very spot.
A mere 700 showed up for the first festival in 1972, a figure that only doubled the following year. But, by 1974, an aura of excitement and danger had built up around the event, for which more than half a million flyers were distributed.
One of these, showing a photograph of a policeman being followed by what looked like a huge papier-mâché dinosaur, found its way into the sixth-form common room at my Surrey grammar school. By this time, much of the idealism and experimentalism of the 1960s had evaporated. “Progressive” mega-bands such as Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin led a life of mansions, private planes and bombastic concept albums. Reading, Britain’s biggest festival, was a staid, regimented affair of beer-drinking and hard rock.
But Windsor promised an event in the spirit of the great ’60s happenings – where spontaneity and audience involvement were encouraged, where anything might happen. And, best of all, it would be completely illegal. I wrote to Dwyer, offering to read my poetry, and received a polite card advising me to be at Stage C at 1pm on the Tuesday of the festival.
In the build-up to the start of the festival on August Bank Holiday Saturday, there was speculation in the media as to whether the event would or should be allowed to go ahead. “Sensible young people will show what they think by staying away,” boomed the Sun, while devoting page three of the same edition to a trio of scantily-clad “hippy chicks”.
Under a heavy police presence, a large crowd gathered in the park. At first, camping was permitted only in a small copse, but soon a great encampment of over 15,000 had spread over the flat expanse of the Cavalry Exercise Ground.
There were no toilets, no water, no provision of food. The atmosphere was, as one audience member later put it, “boy scout plus acid. That first night it felt as though everyone was tripping.” The drugs welfare organisation Release ran a tent which was, as their doctor wrote, “like a scene from Hieronymus Bosch”. Yet gradually a semblance of organisation emerged.
Meetings of festival-goers set “unexploitative” prices for ice cream vans and hot dog stalls – any that didn’t comply were chased from the site or had their wares “liberated” and distributed to the crowd. Daily newsletters appeared, encouraging the flashing of cans and mirrors to “fuck up” the police helicopters that hovered overhead.
Arriving in Windsor on the Sunday evening, I was confronted by the bizarre spectacle of an English small town apparently under martial law – the streets deserted except for screeching police vans, the verges around the park heaped with cars taken to pieces in drug searches. In the glade around the main stage, there were the usual elements of a pop festival – stages, people’s intimate living arrangements, semi-comatose bodies – but not separate, ordered, as at a commercial event.
Everything was happening on top of everything else, with nothing hidden. At first, I was horrified by the grunginess and insanitariness of it all: those trees on the other side of the glade were presumably the toilets. But I had wanted a festival that that invented itself as it went along, with no security guards or barriers, and this was it.
The beautiful people had long since moved on from freakdom (nobody used the word hippy at this time). What was left at Windsor was the hardcore – those who were too convinced or too stoned to move on. I had imagined myself reading my poetry to the crowd, a Ginsberg-like figure, standing – if only momentarily – at the centre of my generation’s history.
In fact there were only a dozen or so bombed-out people slumped in the sun before the small stage. I was very nervous, though no one knew or cared that I was there. The band that played after me seemed not only indifferent to my performance, but to their own. It seemed that in stoned freakdom, to be cool meant to be indifferent to most things most of the time.
Yet, despite 300 arrests and a near riot when a festival-goer was injured by a police van, the atmosphere was amazingly benign. Lying out on the grass and surrendering to the flow, you realised that in a strange way it did all work. Latrines had been dug, there was surprisingly little litter, and there were moments of idyllic beauty. Dancing in the central glade as night fell, Windsor seemed the best venue on earth.
Everyone danced without caring what anyone thought. Nobody had paid anything, nobody owed anything. Crazy people, naked people, straight people – everyone was absorbed by that mood of enchanted togetherness that is the purpose of the true festival. And just below the stage was a girl in a kimono with long frizzy blonde hair, a fairy amazon leaping in a kind of wild kinetic semaphore, dancing with a fierce unrelenting energy till at one point she looked round into the crowd to where I stood staring at her. And I’m sorry to admit it, but I looked away.
After three days, I returned, filthy and exhausted, to my suburban comforts, to be woken by my mother the next morning with the news that “my festival” had been routed. Early on Thursday, two days before its appointed end, 600 members of the Thames Valley Police had swept over the festival site, giving the remaining participants just 10 minutes to move on.
Things became tense: truncheons were drawn, women and children kicked, hundreds more arrested. In comparison with the civil strife we’ve seen since – during the miners’ strike and the Poll Tax riots – it was piffling. But in 1974, the sight of the police marching with truncheons drawn against a group who presented no threat to anyone drew wide condemnation. The Home Secretary demanded a full report from the police, and the Daily Telegraph was among seven national newspapers that joined calls for a full public enquiry.
Ubi Dwyer, who had been arrested for threatening behaviour, after “flipping his lid” and declaring himself “King of Albion”, was later sentenced to two years’ imprisonment for trying to organise a fourth Windsor festival. To avert further problems, the then Labour government provided a designated site for free festivals at Watchfield in Wiltshire, and a successful and peaceful event was held the following year.
Yet Windsor marked the end of something. Whether or not “flower power” died that Thursday morning, as has often been claimed, Windsor was the last time the psychedelic alternative society could claim to represent any sort of youth-cultural mainstream. Some of the fringe elements represented there, such as feminism, gay liberation and environmentalism, have become massively influential parts of the mainstream. Yet hippydom itself slipped into theshadows, until many of its strategies and ideals were revived by late-1980s rave culture.
Much as I wanted to get involved, I never really felt part of what Windsor represented. Like many of my generation, I felt I’d missed the best of love and peace. Our moment came a couple of years later with punk, and for the Johnny Rottens of this world there was little to choose between the “complacent” indifference I had observed among the hippies and the small-mindedness that destroyed their festival.
Now that I’m a father and property owner myself, notions of “freedom” defined almost entirely around drug-taking seem relevant only in a negative sense. If I’d examined myself seriously, I’d have found many of the assumptions on which Windsor was based – that all property is theft, that it is the existence of the police that creates crime – atently ludicrous even then.
Yet there’s something in the idealism of the festival that remains immensely attractive. From the perspective of our ever more money-obsessed society, where nothing seems possible without the collusion of financial interests or celebrity ego gratification, the idea that people without power would organise an event on that scale, for nothing, seems not only almost unbelievable, but still beautiful and admirable.
BBC Revisiting Britain’s biggest free festival
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/music/3662921.stm
BBC In pictures- Summer solstice
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/photo_gallery/3825135.stm
BBC Thousands gather at Stonehenge
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/wiltshire/3823379.stm
Guardian Stonehenge builders identified
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,1243952,00.html
Guardian Summer solstice
http://www.guardian.co.uk/netnotes/article/0,6729,1243856,00.html
Salisbury Journal Crowd greets solstice dawn
http://www.thisiswiltshire.co.uk/wiltshire/salisbury/news/SALIS_NEWS5.html
Stonehenge Reveller ‘Dies of Drink and Drugs’
http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=3104700
and
Google Search stonehenge
http://news.google.co.uk/news?hl=en&edition=uk&ie=ascii&q=stonehenge&btnG=Search+News
Observer Magazine Beanfiled: What happened next
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/magazine/story/0,11913,1151750,00.html
Also, since I’ve included this large set links about current material, I thought I’d add these as well.
I’ve encoded this videotape material, that you can watch using media player.
http://tash.dns2go.com/Vtape-WVX320x240/Forgive_our_trespasses_320x240.wvx
http://tash.dns2go.com/Vtape-WVX320x240/NewAge_Trav_320x240.wvx
http://tash.dns2go.com/Vtape-WVX320x240/Operation_Solstice_320x240.wvx
http://tash.dns2go.com/Vtape-WVX320x240/Post_Bfield_Newsnight320x240.wvx
http://tash.dns2go.com/Vtape-WVX320x240/sevendaysStoneyX_320x240.wvx
http://tash.dns2go.com/Vtape-WVX320x240/Stonehenge_Pilgrimage_320x240.wvx
http://tash.dns2go.com/Vtape-WVX320x240/Stonehenge86_320x240.wvx
http://tash.dns2go.com/Vtape-WVX320x240/Stonehenge93_Seye_320x240.wvx
Gaby Hinsliff, chief political correspondent
Sunday June 27, 2004 The Observer
· Police claim drug dealers openly flout the law
· Officers fear community backlash over arrests
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,6903,1248264,00.html
Police are demanding a U-turn over the softening of the law on cannabis, claiming it has brought a ‘sense of lawlessness’ to the streets as smokers flaunt their habit.
Officers say more people are openly taking and selling cannabis in public, with calculated attempts to provoke retaliation, according to the chair of the Police Federation.
Jan Berry said her members were ‘walking on eggshells’ amid tensions over whether they treated different groups in their communities differently for smoking in the streets.
Six months after the government downgraded cannabis to a Class C drug, there was still widespread confusion about how to treat blatant smokers who went beyond ‘acceptable behaviour’ in public, she said.
‘If a person insists on doing something to get themselves arrested, you can use your skills to try and calm them,’ said Berry, whose organisation represents frontline officers. But ‘there will be other people watching how you react, if you react in one way to a group of people and not the same to somebody else. It’s very often walking on eggshells.’
The legal change, which means that people can still be arrested for possessing cannabis but are unlikely to be, had left officers confused, Berry said.
Many would not, for example, arrest someone for blowing dope smoke in their faces, but they were torn: ‘The government’s saying, “It is not really serious, we don’t want you to prioritise it.” But it is an arrestable offence, and now we get people saying, “Go on, arrest me”.’
The Home Office insists the change allows the police to concentrate on more serious offences involving hard drugs and that there is no evidence of higher cannabis consumption. New figures expected to show significant successes in tackling the smuggling of heroin, cocaine and other Class A drugs will be used to justify the policy.
Caroline Flint, the Home Office minister responsible for drugs policy, is monitoring national arrest patterns across the country to see how different forces react.
Danny Kushlick, of the drugs charity Transform, said the reform had made little practical difference: many officers had, in effect, ignored personal use of cannabis before the law changed.
But some forces were still ‘being quite heavy’ on cannabis offences, while others were letting smokers off without even a caution.
Kushlick said it was ‘a hard thing’ for officers to operate. ‘You effectively have a law that cannot be enforced.’ The solution was the complete legalisation of cannabis.
The federation’s Berry called for a public debate over the law on soft drugs. ‘I think it would be wrong to change the law every six months because it hasn’t worked,’ she said. ‘But I am convinced it is not law enforcement which will make a real different in drugs. It’s about properly raising awareness and treatment programmes.’
She is concerned about growing evidence of a link between cannabis smoking and psychotic illness. Labour backbenchers want the government to commission more independent research into the potential health risks.
Although a European Union-wide study found that potency of the drug had changed little between 1979 and 2001, recent British research suggests some versions are now two to three times stronger than average.
John Mann, Labour MP for Bassetlaw, who supported reclassification and believed it was ‘highly ignorant’ to suggest the change had encouraged dope smoking, also said more action was needed on the health risks.
‘There is a difference between drinking a bottle of beer and a bottle of whisky, yet people wouldn’t immediately recognise the difference with cannabis,’ he said.
Mann wants Britain to follow the example of Queensland in Australia, where dope smokers are cautioned, but sent to a health counsellor to discuss their habit.
Home Office aides retorted yesterday that the Police Federation had always been opposed the reform, and officers could arrest smokers who behaved provocatively.
‘This wasn’t done at the behest of rank-and-file officers, it was done at the behest of leader of the police services who wanted the operational freedom to spend more of their time tackling Class A drugs,’ said a source close to David Blunkett, the Home Secretary.
‘And part of the agreement we reached with police was explicitly to give them the power to still arrest people who were effectively winding them up,’ the source said.
Evidence on the psychiatric effect of cannabis had already been considered, and ministers had never denied it carried health risks. ‘It remains harmful to the user.’
A spokesman for the Association of Chief Police Officers, said it was ‘too early’ to judge how the law was working. It had issued guidelines on when arrests should be made.
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,6903,1248264,00.html
Reefer madness :: No wonder the police are confused
Leader : Sunday June 27, 2004 : The Observer
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/leaders/story/0,6903,1248308,00.html
Not for the first time, the Police Federation is confused. As we report today, the union representing beat officers believes that the downgrading of cannabis from a Class B to a Class C drug has left its members unclear about what to do about the rise in the numbers of people openly smoking marijuana on the street. They say that declassification has led to a casual culture of lawlessness and that police officers are provoked by people smoking joints and believing they are above the law.
The Police Federation has traditionally opposed liberalising reform, insisting it will lead to mayhem on the streets. The move to change the classification of cannabis was backed by senior officers, who believed that it was crucial for police to concentrate their efforts on the deadly trade in harder drugs. Now, though, they should listen to the federation. It is too easy to dismiss the complaints of ordinary officers who face a genuine dilemma in the policing of cannabis misuse.
In opting for the middle way between prohibition and full legalisation, the Home Office has confused all of us. This newspaper has always backed the liberalisation of drug laws, but we have to recognise that declassification has had a perverse effect. The endeavour was designed to free police time for other work, not to provide the means for users to taunt officers who are forced to tolerate what remains an illegal act.
The answer is not, as the federation demands, to return to the status quo ante, but to move towards the licensing of cannabis. This should be accompanied by full trials of the new, stronger strains of the drug available, which research suggests can induce psychosis.
The cannabis debate can fuddle the brain almost as much as the drug itself. What police and public need is a clear head from government on this issue and a clear message on its legality.
BBC Revisiting Britain’s biggest free festival
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/music/3662921.stm
BBC In pictures- Summer solstice
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/photo_gallery/3825135.stm
BBC Thousands gather at Stonehenge
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/wiltshire/3823379.stm
Guardian Stonehenge builders identified
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,1243952,00.html
Guardian Summer solstice
http://www.guardian.co.uk/netnotes/article/0,6729,1243856,00.html
Salisbury Journal Crowd greets solstice dawn
http://www.thisiswiltshire.co.uk/wiltshire/salisbury/news/SALIS_NEWS5.html
Stonehenge Reveller ‘Dies of Drink and Drugs’
http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=3104700
and
Google Search stonehenge
http://news.google.co.uk/news?hl=en&edition=uk&ie=ascii&q=stonehenge&btnG=Search+News
Observer Magazine Beanfiled: What happened next
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/magazine/story/0,11913,1151750,00.html
Stonehenge study tells pagans and historians it’s good to talk
More understanding among all sides in the great Stonehenge debate
might be made if the world was shown images of how the site is
experienced by visitors today rather than only its imagined past,
suggests new research sponsored by the ESRC. This research is
published today as a part of Social Science Week.
But the project, co-directed by Dr Jenny Blain of Sheffield Hallam
University and Dr Robert Wallis of Richmond University, London,
admits this would undermine the very potent and almost universal
need for Stonehenge to remain ‘essentially preserved’, shrouded in
mystery, and the ancient guardian of a hidden past.
A report from their ‘Sacred Sites, Contested Rights/Rites’ project,
comes at a time when considerable alliances have been formed at a
public inquiry in Salisbury by groups fighting redevelopment plans
for the Stonehenge area. These include a tunnel to take the A303 and
the siting of a new visitor centre.
The project examined what have come to be known as sacred sites, and
the climate of mistrust between heritage management and
archaeologists on one side, and pagans and alternative interest
groups on the other.
It included a detailed, systematic analysis of available published
material, websites and press coverage, along with fieldwork and
discussions with visitors and local people at Stonehenge and similar
places.
Dr Blain said: “Stonehenge is the centre of an on-going struggle
between travellers, pagans, ‘Druids’, members of the ‘alternative’
community, English Heritage, landowners and the police. The
situation there spotlights differences between, on one hand,
heritage concerns about preservation for future generations, and on
the other, the demands of pagans and others who want open access for
everyone.”
Accommodations reached between the different parties at times of
solstices and equinoxes remain contentious, and distrust is rife,
says the report. It points out, however, that dividing lines have
been drawn up differently over the current redevelopment plans.
For many pagans, prehistoric sites are not ruins but living temples
or sacred sites. They feel drawn to these places to perform seasonal
rituals or to observe astronomical events. Many pagans, including
Druids, accept the ‘preservation ethos’, regarding such things as
stone circles, barrows and iron age forts as artefacts of pre-
Christian paganism, and therefore sacred.
Access is important to them, but not at the expense of preserving
sites for future generations. However, other Druids and pagans,
notably groups campaigning for the return of the Stonehenge free-
festival, call for mass public celebrations, especially at the
summer solstice.
The study points out that archaeologists investigating the religious
significance of sites rarely consider rituals of the present day,
dismissing them as invalid. Some heritage managers speak directly
with pagan and other groups, and may even attend festivals, yet this
is seldom recorded officially.
Pagans sympathetic to preservation are interested in archaeological
views and want to become involved in site maintenance. They also try
to explain their perceptions about landscapes as ‘living’ entities.
But archaeologists who take part in pagan conferences tend to
provide information rather than seek it, and the result is
frustration for the groups.
Picture presentations of sites such as Stonehenge invariably show
them as dramatic ruins in splendid isolation, removing any signs of
people or present-day activity. And the emphasis on such things as
visitor centres and ‘interpretation’ handed out to naïve visitors,
suggests a ‘top-down’ approach by middle-class heritage management,
explaining something from a ‘closed’ past.
Dr Blain said: “Our project suggests that open and transparent
dialogue is needed between all the interested groups. And this must
begin with an appreciation of diversity.”
###
For further information, contact:
Jenny Blain on 791-955-6371 or 44-114-225-4413;
Or Iain Stewart, Lesley Lilley or Becky Gammon at ESRC, on 01793-
413032/413119/413122.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2004-06/esr-sst061804.php
If you missed the show, like you are at Glastonbury, or somsuch, then you can listen to the latest Archive Hour, for the following week.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/factual/rams/archivehour.ram
Real Player required
http://www.westernmorningnews.co.uk
19 June 2004
Police across the Westcountry are preparing to crack down on illegal raves this summer, armed with new powers to confiscate stereos and take revellers to court.
Officers have set up road blocks and barricades around the disused Smeatharpe airfield in East Devon which two years ago was overrun by revellers turned away from the Glastonbury Festival.
As the summer party season gets under way – with Glastonbury next weekend – the police could be testing out new powers to move on rowdy trespassers.
Armed with the Anti-Social Behaviour Act 2003, officers can now disband gatherings once 20 or more people have congregated in an open or indoor area. In the past the police were unable to take action to force people to move unless at least 100 people had gathered.
Avon and Somerset, Devon and Cornwall, Dorset, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire Police have joined forces to scour the Internet for any mention of illegal raves in a bid to stop summer revellers invading rural beauty spots.
Any information gathered will be used to launch an action plan to nip illicit gatherings in the bud.
Police will also be asking local farmers, landowners and residents to let them know of any suspicious characters in their area who might be assessing its viability as a rave site.
The crackdown, codenamed Operation Hartley, aims to prevent a repeat of the illegal gatherings at Smeatharpe in 2002, where 1,000 people turned away from Glastonbury converged on the airfield, staying uninvited for several weeks and leaving heaps of refuse behind them.
“Access to the site at Smeatharpe was easy and obviously identified well in advance by the rave organisers,” said Chief Inspector Nick Jarrold, who is overseeing a police operation to ensure that revellers stay away from Smeatharpe this year.
Barriers have been erected around the disused airfield and officers will be patrolling the area within a five-mile radius of the airfield, metres from the Somerset border.
“When the raves go ahead unchecked, they cause disruption for the residents living nearby and can result in many of our valuable resources being tied up for long periods of time,” said Chief Insp Jarrold. “With effective planning, a smaller number of local officers can prevent these gatherings.”
But he said the powers would be used responsibly with police aiming to be as reasonable as possible with revellers. “We are not rubbing our hands with glee and using the powers to disrupt all sorts of parties – the laws are simply there to use if needs be, making our job a little easier,” he said.
“If people are aware that there are strangers or strange vehicles paying particular attention to areas of land such as beaches, woodland or fields, we would ask them to ring the police, noting down a description and licence plates so that we can build up a jigsaw of intelligence to crack down on regular offenders.”
The police initiative and new laws have been broadly welcomed by Westcountry MPs.
John Burnett, Liberal Democrat MP for West Devon, said: “I am in favour of people enjoying themselves as long as they don’t do it at others’ expense. If they behave anti-socially then I am delighted that the police are acting to stop them.”
Andrew George, Lib-Dem MP for St Ives, gave a more guarded welcome.
He said: “If there is such behaviour or an event is taking place on private land without the owner’s consent then the new powers will be useful, but I think the police may on occasion have problems with the interpretation of the laws.”
Chris Bobey, 31, a former outdoor rave-goer from Totnes went one step further. “It is a waste of taxpayers’ money and police time when they should be out catching murders and rapists,” he said.
“If people want to get out into the open air to have a dance and enjoy themselves, as long as they don’t disturb residents and they clean up after themselves they should be left in peace.
“Generally in this area raves are small parties that are well organised and controlled. People mainly go to listen to the music and they are far less problematic than the standard drug-taking and binge-drinking culture you see every Saturday night in licensed bars and clubs.”
and
Avon and Somerset Police
http://www.avonandsomerset.police.uk
Tuesday, 15 June 2004 11:07
With the summer months comes the problem of illegal gatherings and raves across the country.
But for the first time this summer, and in the build up to the Glastonbury Festival, new powers mean the Avon and Somerset Constabulary is geared up to stop raves before they start.
The force is believed to be one of the first in the country to adopt the new legislation under the Anti-Social Behaviour Act.
A joint police and local authority operation aimed at preventing travellers on the way to the Glastonbury Festival setting up illegal gatherings is already under way.
In the past, 100 people have needed to gather in an open space before action could be taken.
The new order means once 20 or more people have gathered in an open or indoor area, steps can be taken to break the gathering up.
The constabulary’s operational planning team have put together the new legislation under the Anti-Social Behaviour Act 2003, after previously only being able to use Public Order Act legislation.
Operational Planning head Supt Adrian Coombs, who has over seen the project, said: “This is the first time we have had a proper Permanent Operational Order to deal with raves.
“In the past we have had a situation where police officers have realised they could do little until a rave had been going on for some time, meaning serious disruption to both local people and officers.
“Now officers will have the power to take early action to prevent a rave getting off the ground in the first place.
“The new legislation gives police powers to remove 20 or more people who we believe might be involved in trespass, which will stop raves in disused warehouses taking place.”
The legislation also means it is an offence for anyone who has been dealt with for trying to start a rave to have any other illegal gathering within the next 24 hours – meaning people will not be able to simply be moved on before setting up again.
It has already been approved as official protocol by regional assistant chief constables and has been embraced by local authorities throughout the force area.
Supt Coombs added: “With our intelligence we aim to stop these gatherings before they happen.
“An important part of this will be working with local authorities who have already given the backing we need to take this forward.”
Supt Coombs and Ch Supt Mark Thompson will be available for a webchat with members of the public on all Glastonbury Festival issues from 6pm until 8pm on Wednesday, June 16, 2004.
Avon and Somerset Police – Press Releases
http://www.avonandsomerset.police.uk/newsroom2/newsroom_main2.asp
Avon and Somerset Police – Glastonbury Festival
http://www.avonandsomerset.police.uk/secure/glastonbury_festival/glastonbury_festival_main.asp
A note for your diaries.
BBC Radio 4 Archive Hour on Festivals.
Saturday 26 Jun, 20:00 – 21:00
Summers Of Mud And Madness: It’s Glastonbury weekend, and Annie Nightingale conducts a guided tour of the Great British Pop Festival, from its decorous beginnings to its wildest excesses. Then News.
Program website:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/factual/archivehour.shtml
Sat What’s on page:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/cgi-perl/whatson/prog_parse.cgi?FILENAME=20040626/20040626_2000_49700_58469_60
I’m interviewed on it and prepared some notes for them, on stuff to cover.
Full set of everything from the solstice this year collected at
Stonehenge 2004
http://tash.dns2go.com/xtra/stonehenge2004/index.htm
and last year.
http://tash.dns2go.com/xtra/stonehenge2003/index.htm
and on my PhotoBlog at:
http://tashcamuk.fotopages.com/?entry=141373
http://tashcamuk.fotopages.com/?entry=143062
http://tashcamuk.fotopages.com/?entry=143077
The pictures I’ve put up over the last few days, are of the celebration at Stonehenge. However, if you have followed the links in those posts, you will know something of the authorities nervousness about the potential re-establishment of the Peoples’ Free Festival of Albion at Stonehenge.
English Heritage – SUMMER SOLSTICE 2004 CONDITIONS OF ENTRY AND INFORMATION
These pictures take you from the last few moments of the gathering, through to the clearance.
Summer Solstice, Stonehenge 2004 :: Black and White work
http://tashcamuk.fotopages.com/?entry=143077
Have now also added scans of my colour slide work, in addition to that from a small digital camera, posted a few days ago.
Summer Solstice, Stonehenge 2004 :: Colour Slide work
http://tashcamuk.fotopages.com/?entry=143062
Pages on Indymedia at:
Tash Post – UK Indymedia Solstice Pictures 1, Stonehenge 2004
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2004/06/293800.html
Tash Post – UK Indymedia Solstice Pictures 2, Stonehenge 2004
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2004/06/293914.html
Tash Post – UK Indymedia Solstice Pictures 3, Stonehenge 2004
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2004/06/293935.html
A jaunt out to another ‘Managed Access’ at Stonehenge, at the permission [and conditions] of English Heritage.
I had a nice time, met old friends and some weird and wonderful people, doing weird and wonderful things. BUT …. it is not as I would have it. The whole policing operation and security policy might seem a little ‘over the top’ for those just wanting to gather for an overnight party / celebration / homage. The operations are more intelligible though, if you have had any experience of the free festivals. In the names of Health & Safety, and Public Order, rules and regs are devised, together with the limits of stay, to stifle any possibility / attempt to re-establish
“The Peoples’ Free Festival of Albion at Stonehenge”
This place has such a history in recent times, that the public demand that there clearly is for a gathering at this time, that has been squashed by force. The police money continues to be spent to resist this idea. Now 20 years since the last proper event there and next year is 20 years since the Battle of the Beanfield http://tash.gn.apc.org/sh_bean.htm
Add it all together and the sum is huge. Other parts of the world hold events like this up to the world. The Kum Mella festival has 15 million participants every four years. The authorities plan for years and turn out in some force, BUT to help those gathering and to help enable the event. This country, well …..
More pictures from this set, on my PhotoBlog at:
http://tashcamuk.fotopages.com/?entry=141373
and on Indymedia at: http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2004/06/293800.html
Also pictures of last years events, on various sites:
UK Indymedia Stonehenge Summer Solstice 2003 Pictures
http://indymedia.org.uk/en/2003/06/273217.html
PhotoBlog at:
http://tashcamuk.fotopages.com/?entry=4037
on my webserver:
Stonehenge Solstice 2003 :: http://tash.dns2go.com/xtra/stonehenge2003/index.htm
Further, a reminder to check out some earlier work, describing how we have arrived at this phase, in the story, The story so far .. .. ..
Stonehenge: http://tash.gn.apc.org/stones1.htm
Solstice Ritual: http://tash.gn.apc.org/solst_0.htm
[pdf version] http://tash.gn.apc.org/solstice.pdf
Beanfield: http://tash.gn.apc.org/sh_bean.htm
Operation Solstice: http://tash.gn.apc.org/op_solstice.htm
The Story so far: http://tash.gn.apc.org/history.htm
My Diary: http://tash.gn.apc.org/diary.htm
Monday June 21, 2004
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,1243952,00.html
Meanwhile, the sound of jungle drums and jazz saxophone reverberated around the site today as an estimated 21,000 people marked the summer solstice, braving chilly temperatures to catch a glimpse of the sun rising between the ancient stones.
With druids and the occasional punk mingling happily with tourists and students, the atmosphere was a far cry from the clashes between police and revellers that often marred the event in the 1980s and 90s. By dawn Wiltshire Police had made only a “handful” of arrests, all for public order offences.
And with the first solstice since the reclassification of cannabis, a police spokesman said officers were maintaining a policy in accordance with the law but concentrating resources on those suspected of possession with intent to supply.
Inside the ring itself, thousands of people packed tightly around groups of drummers and other musicians while some took the opportunity to sprawl on the ancient stones, which are normally beyond public reach.
The focus of the activity before dawn was on an impromptu dance next to the famous Heal Stone, the marker for sunrise on summer solstice.
The druid leader, King Arthur Pendragon, presided over the festivities, standing amid a ring of flaming torches.
King Arthur, who adopted the name in 1986 to denote his position as Battle Chieftain of the Council of British Druids, said the festivities marked the arrival of dawn.
He said: “The fire symbolically welcomes the sun for the longest day of the year, part of the seasonal wheel which we, as druids and pagans, celebrate. It’s not a day in church for us: it’s a celebration. We don’t sit in pews.
“At the end of the day this living temple that we call Stonehenge belongs to all of us. We all have a right to come here and celebrate the solstice,” he said.
For others it was simply a spectacle. Cara Whitehorn, 32, from Wiltshire said: “This is my first time. It’s my birthday, and I’ve always wanted to come here on my birthday.”
There were fears that the solstice would be marred by bad weather but the sun finally broke through the clouds at 6.15am to a chorus of applause from the crowds.
Peter Carson, English Heritage’s head of Stonehenge, said the event was a success. He said: “It’s wonderful. We are delighted at the fact that people have been able to come here and enjoy the solstice in a safe and peaceful manner.”
Tash on YouTube
