Fairs and Festivals
By Peter Simmons
A celebration of those wonderful, wacky, alternative, hippy, green festivals which occurred in the UK during the late seventies and throughout the eighties, with a very few still surviving into the new century, despite moves by the state to stamp them out, is well overdue. So I made a website to celebrate them with pictures, music and text. Free Festivals, Green Festivals, Medieval Faires, Rock Festivals and a variety of pagan festivals, brought together people from all walks of life to celebrate life itself. They remade the concept of festival, harking back to medieval times and unholy fools who entertained the people and outraged the authorities. With no one in charge, they came together through the voluntary efforts of hundreds of people who gave their time, energy and talents to create something unexpected and extraordinary; anarchism working. The photographs on my site are, so far, my work, but everyone who has memories and pictures is invited to send them for inclusion on the site. I hope to develop it into a database of images from all the festivals, both officially organised and unofficial free events. I have set up a javascript slideshow, which is best viewed in Internet Explorer, but so far have only had time to assemble pictures from one festival, Rougham. Anyone who went to the Rougham [Suffolk] fairs is bound to have fond memories [and of the earlier Barsham Fayres], and we are interested in these, whether in words or photographs. Soon, other festivals will get their own slideshows [and picture albums so they can be viewed at the viewer's leisure]. There will be music too, particularly if anyone has recordings made at festivals, but we can't manage jugglers just yet - we're working on it! Most people in the world have heard of Glastonbury, and many have attended, but that is the big one, with many disadvantages caused by size and the ethos of the organisers, which has always been to make lots of money. The genuinely alternative festivals though, were never about making money, they were all to do with celebration, respect for the Earth, education about environmental concerns, music and laughter. Clowns abounded, crazy theatre companies entertained, musicians got their first break, dancers danced and everywhere you went there were smiles on faces, and it wasn't just down to the dope! Peaceful and loving, these were an object lesson in how to celebrate diversity and humanity, and as such were a threat to the established order of uptight, money grabbing, warmongering, control freaks who call themselves government, so the authories did everything in their power to stop them; police regularly harassed visitors - strip searching was common - and local councils [elected to serve the people] put all kinds of obstacles in the way of the organisers, and generally made life difficult. Eventually, the forces of darkness and hate won, and the festivals withered away. Now, there is still Glasonbury with it's double security fence with barbed wire, vicious security guards patrolling as if it was a prison camp, squads of police patrolling inside to make sure no one is enjoying themselves too much, and the ticket price set so that only yuppies from the City can afford it. Then there's the Buddhafield festival, alright if you're Buddhist, but with none of the magic that once roamed the countryside. End of an era. |
