Although we had heard that Fun-de-mental were there no-one has confirmed it so we had to remove them. We never came across them in our limited wanderings, which doesn’t really mean much, so anyone confirm that they were there, either as part of a bigger rig or on their own? Thanks!
We’ve heard that Spiral didn’t have their sound system there, but used Bedlam’s. We have left their name in the title as we know there was a lot of cross-pollination between the two crews and we also see they brought their backdrops and some vehicles. Did they bring some DJs too? Let us know.
Also, we added Techno Travellers as we believe it was their rig in the Circus Warp tent.
There was one smaller system turned up on Sunday morning that we have seen photos of. If you know who that was let us know 🙂
Again, thanks Simon K for the newspaper clipping, we didn’t even know this photo of Lechlade from the air existed.
Transcripts of the accompanying newspaper article, plus a couple more, are below, again courtesy to Simon K 🙂
The hippy invasion
By Barry Leighton
A SMALL rural town was last night the centre of a massive illegal party after an invasion by thousands of hippies and ravers.
As many as 10,000 people gathered in a disused quarry at Lechlade, near Swindon, for a rave which threatens to carry on today.
Stunned families watched in amazement as as some 2,000 new-age travellers began arriving in the sleepy Cotswold town in a ragged assortment of vehicles on Friday and Saturday.
They were followed by an estimated 8,000 ravers on Saturday night who helped turn what was originally intended as an ancient pagan celebration into a huge dance party.
Bulky sound-systems pumped out non-stop dance music throughout the day and night as police, unable to halt such vast numbers, stood by.
Last night, as more people threatened to pour in for the ongoing party, angry locals demanded to know why it had been allowed to take place.
Families in the picture-postcard town on the banks of the Thames are also seeking action to ensure that such an event is never staged there again.
Mr Ian Cook, whose recently built detached house is just over the road from the festival site, said: “I object to the mess, the sanitation problems, the amount it’s going to cost the poll tax payers to clean up.
“We moved here for some peace and quiet, it’s disgusting.”
The land is owned by ARC who applied for an injunction after a small group of travellers arrived last Tuesday.
On Friday, Thames Valley police prevented what was becoming an annual May Day pagan fertility festival at Hungerford.
Instead the travellers set off in a convoy of battered lorries, buses and vans for Lechlade where a reserve site had been earmarked.
By Friday night some 350 vehicles were camped on the grassy site and a huge former circus tent was erected.
Word spread and on Saturday thousands of young people converged on Lechlade from all over the West, London and the Midlands for a huge illegal rave.
Some 4,000 cars and vans were parked on grass verges and roundabouts in and around the site on the edge of town.
The authorities laid on water supplies, rubbish sacks and skips for festival goers to dump garbage.
The small town, which usually requires just one policeman, was swollen to more than double its normal population.
Gloucestershire police, with help from neighbouring Wiltshire and Thames Valley constabularies, were unable to stop traffic pouring into Lechlade.
Drugs
Chief Inspector John Parsons said that all police could do was ensure that the roads were clear and isolate the site as much as possible.
He said they knew drugs were being used but that police had decided not to go on site as it would present all sorts of problems.
Cotswold councillor for Lechlade, Mrs Pat Pretty (Ind), who was at the scene yesterday, [rest of article missing]
HIPPIE SHAKER!
By MANDY CANN
ADVERTISER STAFF
Village rocked by party-goers
TEN thousand would-be a revellers looking for party shattered villagers’ peace.
Stunned residents of Lechlade, near Swindon, watched in disbelief as nearly 10,000 ravers descended on a disused quarry near the village on Saturday night.
Cars lined grass verges and choked roads as people swarmed into the area hoping to attend an illegal party on the quarry site.
But they soon left when the party they had hoped for turned out to be new age travellers listening to music and not a rave.
Gloucestershire police stepped up their presence in Lechlade and the surrounding
villages but made only five arrests on Saturday night.
About 1,000 travellers and 500 vehicles moved into a quarry on
“Our sleepy little village is not sleepy any more”
Friday to celebrate the ancient May Day festival of Beltane.
They parked vehicles in a circle around the quarry and were listening to live music.
The travellers were still on the site celebrating the festival today.
Insp Eddie Whitlock said: “I think the ravers who turned up were expecting something a bit different, and as some left others came, and the numbers fluctuated all night.”
Peter Randell, landlord of the Crown Inn, in the High Street said: ‘It is not that the travellers are a problem, but the number of them is.
“They have been arriving since Friday, but we don’t see them at night. It is in the day when we notice them wandering around the village.
“It is a bit of a worry and you have to be on your guard in case anything happens, but I don’t think they are really causing any big problems.”
Penny Warren, landlady of The Trout Inn said: “Our sleepy little village isn’t sleepy any more, and we have never seen so many people in one place at any one time. But they are not causing us any problems at all.”
A resident, who refused to be named, said: “There are all sorts of people milling around but they are not doing anybody any harm. I always say live and let live.”
The site is owned by quarry company ARC which applied for an injunction after a small group of travellers arrived on Tuesday.
Western Daily Press Wednesday 8th May:
Villages go on hippy invasion alert
VILLAGERS across the West were last night waiting in fear to see where thousands of New Age travellers would move next after a massive festival came to a close.
Fewer than 1,000 travellers and 400 vehicles were still at the quarry in Lechlade, near Swindon, last night after around 10,000 people spent two days and nights at a Bank Holiday illegal rave party.
Police said 53 arrests had been made during the weekend, mainly for drug-related offences, but there had been little trouble considering it was such a large gathering.
Yesterday concern focused on where the hard-core of around 2,000 new age travellers, many still at the quarry, would move next.
Mr David Durbin, town clerk of nearby Cirencester said: “I really hope the town is safe. We are relying on the forces of law and order to protect us.
And Cirencester and Tewkesbury MP Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, whose constituency includes the site of the illegal rave, criticised authorities in Hungerford, from where many of the travellers came.
“It should have been possible for them to establish where they are going to descend next.
“After this every landowner has got to be concerned about travellers moving around and descending illegally on private property.
“It is quite intolerable that hippies should descend on someone’s land and just stay there. I do not see why these people should not have to behave like other citizens.
Gloucestershire assistant chief constable Nigel Burgess said travellers were leaving individually rather than in a convoy that could be tracked through the county.
“We don’t exactly know where they are going and I am sure many of them don’t know where they are going themselves, he said.
Police have ruled out use of the Public Order Act to arrest and remove remaining travellers as likely to spark greater disruption in Lechlade than residents have already suffered.
Quarry owner ARC yesterday heard its application for an injunction to force the remaining travellers to move on would not be heard until tomorrow.
One of the travellers said there had been no trouble at all and the festival had shown that such events could pass of [sic] peacefully.
Jamie’s images from Lechlade below. His photos are also in the Roundway Hill post. And a memory of his: nice to know you were at Lechlade too, we stayed until Sunday too, it was a good mayhem!! I think I stayed in bed for about a week after that one 😀
Hello Graudian readers! Thanks for visiting, but thanks to a mistake on this page, this isn’t the page you’re looking for! Click here for the Castlemorton Common free festival page. Cheers!
Here is a new report from reliable raver Simon M:
No idea [how we heard about it]. But I think the original information I had was that it was going to be in Hungerford and possibly put on by an organisation called Asylum? Think we left from Bridport. We would have got details of the location along the way but who from I don’t know. Did we have a number to call? We might have seen fellow ravers at a petrol station, and as we got closer to the site we would have joined a convoy of cars.
[We got there] early evening. First impressions were how huge it was; cars and traveller vehicles everywhere. We were worried about there being so many police but when I wound down my window to speak to one all he wanted to tell me was where to park. …how busy it was, and how loud it was and as we approached the first sound system it got more and more intense and people looked more and more gaunt like they’d been drugged up and dancing for hours.
I seem to remember D taking me off around the site trying to score and we ended up sharing a joint with some people in the back of their Luton van. They had turntables and it was decked out like a chill out room. I got the feeling they were posh travellers. Nice though.
I do remember spending most of our time at Circus Warp. Best music, best decor, best vibe. I’ve got written down that I had a Roobarb & Custard, Black Sun (acid?) and a gram of speed.
I seem to remember dancing a lot, mostly at Circus Warp. I think I had my spy sunglasses on, with mirrors in the sides so you could see behind you, but while dancing and nodding your head it gave a really good extra dimension to the rhythm of dancing. I also remember dancing on my own and I kept thinking I was seeing people I knew but when I went up to them it wasn’t who I thought it was. I remember seeing some very straight looking people dancing and figured out they were probably locals from Lechlade, come down to see what all the fuss was about and decided to stay and party.
Can’t remember any actual tunes at Circus Warp but they played excellent breakbeat the whole time. In the morning Spiral played Digeridoo and there was a very nutty looking guy who looked high as a kite flinging his arms in the air to the beat.
Was it at Lechlade that there was the guy in orange trousers and floppy hat dancing on the roof of a van grinning and pointing at people and dancing in the most funky way? Someone on freepartypeople must know who he is.
We spent quite a lot of time in the car listening in amazement as the Orbital remixes seemed to ricochet around the inside of the car. I did my usual of spending what seemed like hours trying to roll a joint, only to find the papers were the wrong way round. Felt drugged up to the eyeballs, unable to move and had to wait until things got less intense before we could venture back outside.
[On the Sunday morning] I think we saw some very out of it travellers get into car (off on a Brew mission I think) and somehow drove it around people and tents and other cars through the field without hitting a thing.
I don’t remember any tension [between travellers and ravers], but I do remember seeing a traveller lying in the field in front of the Spiral sound system and a raver going to shake his hand and trying to lift him up. The raver was putting everything into lifting up the traveller and the traveller, in his blissed out state was remaining on the grass and in my mind it turned into a struggle between urban and rural, manufactured and organic, intensity and indifference.
Probably drove back Sunday afternoon/evening. I expect we didn’t have a huge amount to say to eachother. We were probably listening to some more mellow music, Special K perhaps, rolling lots of joints and looking forward to gettting home and getting some sleep.
From Ian Young, It’s Not About Me! Confessions Of A Recovered Outlaw Addict- From Living Hell To Living Big. Norwich: Anoma Press, 2013, p.59-60.
Here are a couple of news reports about this party. Thanks again to faithful contributor Mr. Clang for the tip, and Youtuber Spaceweed23 for the upload!
Here’s a report from someone who wishes to remain anonymous:
A disused quarry in Gloucestershire was the venue for this 8,000/10,000/15,000-strong free technofesty blowout. Who counts the numbers anyway ;P If it was based on the number of cars it would be an underestimate- 4 people per car was the absolute minimum those days. Police estimates are always ALWAYS under (for obvious reasons), especially at ‘oppositional’ events e.g. free unlicensed 3-day festivals, reclaim the streets etc. demonstrations.
This pic of Lechlade featured in an article in Select magazine:
An excerpt from Simon M‘s rave diary:
Missed Castlemorton due to leaving my brain at Lechlade. A long drive up. I think we got the location of the party from the news reports:
When we arrived we had a jittery moment because the police stopped our car on the way in. FFFFFFffffUUUUUCCCCkkkkk! Oh no, it’s OK, they’re just telling us where to park, politely. A few metres away a dealer was standing in the middle of the road bellowing “Rhubarb and Custards! Callies!”
I think the big white tent in the pics above was Rob Pike’s but I don’t remember there being a rig in there at this do.
This blue and orange marquee in the pic above was Circus Warp’s. I also remember a load of far out UV stuff dangling from the roof of their tent, including bicycle wheels. Also a mad max robot and some red/orange speakers behind the back of the tent which didn’t seem to be switched on:
A fantastic atmosphere notwithstanding a little friction between the hippies and the ravers- heard a few expensively dressed ravers getting harangued by the crusties: “OOOOOooooh dress to IMPRESS!”. Oh yeah, and someone laughed at my hat. I deserved it for sure 😉
Other sights and sounds:
Flinching at the sheer excessive volume of the beat coming from the Spiral system in the blazing sunlight on Sunday morning, when we felt particularly fragile.
A brew crew/keta/acid/whatever casualty rolling around on the ground trying to scratch the tattoo off his arm.
A bunch of well-spoken but off-their-tits Oxford medical students who came and sat in our car, and jabbered with us for either 3 minutes or three hours.
A misty and gentle sunrise over one of the huge trout ponds (which, incidentally, contained huge trout).
Seeing some poor fucker who’d overdone it being carted away.
Finding a lost crusty puppy.
Taking photos of ourselves and the next week wondering what the nice girl in Boots thought was wrong with our faces in the pictures.
The aftermath:
It was even mentioned in the Commons:
Sir David Mitchell (Hampshire, North-West) :
I noticed that on the spring bank holiday about 30,000 people attended a pop festival at Lechlade in Gloucestershire, and if more itinerants and hippies come to my constituency in the pre-solstice period, the noise disturbance, the petty crime and the filth that they will leave behind will cause my constituents great anxiety.
also
On 21 June, the summer solstice arrives and large numbers of hippies, itinerants and new-age travellers can be expected. Some of my constituents call them by names that cannot be expressed in parliamentary language.
UK Free Parties and Free Festivals 1988-1994 