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Updated July 2021

For information on today's festivals see eFestivals.co.uk

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This site is dedicated in the memory of

Roger Hutchinson,

who inspired me to delve deep into the magic of the free festival and who passed away Sept 3rd 2010.

R.I.P. Roger .....


Brinklow Free Festival

1986


Phil Hudson writes

We took the site on a May Thursday. It's an old motte-and-bailey castle(lots of concentric ramparts and trenches rising to a small plateau)situated on the Fosse Way (the ancient south-west-to-north-east artery of England) just east of Coventry. The whole site is invisible to the passing traffic; people living nearby have no idea that this haven of
ancient tranquility and greenery exists in the heart of the industrial Midlands.
The local farmers had got wind of the plans for the festival, and had dumped a few cartloads of manure in the entranceway. So that's what taking the site entailed: me and a guy called Andy (or was it Stuart who was with me? One or the other) shovelling shit for a couple of hours. We did it with good humor and were much blessed by other grateful organizers.
Bands were mostly local punks and not so much to my taste. The low number of travellers made for a markedly different - to my mind, depressed - festival experience.
Halfway through the festival, Chernobyl exploded. I'll never forget the couple doing the T'ai Chi "form" on top of the central mound in the dawn light the following day. No doubt we all got a shower of fallout n the drizzle that came later.
We left the site immaculate. We'd cut fireplaces out of the grass carefully before the punters arrived and stored the turfs to replace afterward. Some arseholes stole some corrugated iron from a nearby farmer, thinking it was allie no doubt, which we recovered and
returned.
Not the best or brightest of festies, but a valiant attempt by a bunch of box-squatting midlands townies to bring to the urban masses the idyllic rural free festival experience which we loved and gained so much from.

Free Festivals List

Any info to add- well don't just sit there ! Contact us

Free festivals and small fayres held in the United Kingdom between 1967-90.

1967-69.

 1970-79  
1980-92

 

  • Windsor Peoples Free Festival 1972-74
 
 Free festival related articles
Pay Festivals- Benefits for Travellers aid.
 

Main list of Free festivals 1970-1985

Free rock festivals of the 70s and 80s

Publications

ffhf

We are proud of the contribution we have made to Andy Worthington's sociological history of Stonehenge and the free festival scene in the UK .This new book gives a fascinating insight into the various counter cultural obsessions with the Stones and provides a variety of new perspectives to many of the key events surrounding the Henge such as the Battle Of The Beanfield and the more recent attempts hold a celebration at the Stones during the Solstice.

 

Find out more about this great book by clicking on the image on the left and visit the Heart of Albion Press web site .

Sending details of a small book I've just self-published which might be of interest to some readers of your admirable site.

Related Articles

The aroma of a free festival -by Roger Hutchinson

Dome construction instruction sheet (download-140k)-by Roger Hutchinson

Travellers Tales Convoy Steve's tale of how the freaks outsmarted the fuzz at Greenham common.

Zorch -House band for the free festival set ? A fanzine page on the UK's first electronic band .

Tibetan Ukranian Mountain Troupe-surreal pranksters of the Traveller community .

Acidia Lightshow Lightshow for Windsor festival and Stonehenge in the 1970s.

Traveller Daves Website - Chock full of of free festival photos !

Many, many thanks go to Roger Hutchinson , Big Steve , Roger Duncan, Celia, Will , Chazz, Jeza ,Chris Hewitt ,The Fabulous Time Tortoise , Peter Piwowarski - ( 70s music site/photos ) Martin S, Steve Austin ,Traveller Dave, Herb, Tim Brighton, Vin Miles, Haze Evans , Noddy Guevara, Chris Brown, Janet Thompson, David Stooke, Gary Gibbons , Nigel Ayers, Rich Deakin ,Glenda Pescardo,Justin Warman,Brian F, Steve Bayfield, Kev Ellis, Paul Seaton and many other minor contributors for their help in providing the archival material related to these free festivals which has at enabled us to construct the site .

Any info to add ?-well don't just sit there , Contact us


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