The Archive.

   Pop Goes Windsor.

  THE WALLYS of Wessex, the Bobbies of Brummie, the Goolys of Glasgow were settling in today for the always illegal third Festival of the People in Windsor Great Park. Their arrival was watched by the law. For when the so-called pop fans, with bed-rolls, billy-cans, babies and boleros squatted on the grass of the Queen's back lawn, they were breaking the by-laws of the park and offending the feelings of the local people.

 

    The man who claims to be the oganiser of the free festival is civil servant Bill Dwyer, 47, from Islington ( pic right). Squatting in a tent covered by a giant Union Jack, and looking anything but a servant of the establishment , he told me: "We welcome the old and the young; the black skin and the white skin: the rich and the poor. We are all one, here ,enjoying ourselves on this land of the people under the free sky of nature." But the peace was all but shattered before a note of loving music was struck. And the only conventionally suited and neck-tied individual in sight was there to help calm the tempers and keep the peace.

     It happened at a conference with a difference as festival patrons and organisers disputed the real reason for the gathering. Half a dozen long-haired lads from Lancashire complained that only one pub in Windsor would serve beer to them. Then another young man with a mid-Atlantic accent said: " There are no pubs so where's the pot?" Organiser-in-chief Dwyer replied: " You'll be better without pubs ,then you'll have more money for food. They say the pot's illegal. But there'll be some found. We have no free food vans this year. We don't want them. We are not starving peasants from India .When we scrounge our food it's not good for the hippie image ".

Evil

    But Wally Phil from Devon, who broke his journey to Windsor with a midsummer stay at Stonehenge, took issue . He praised the people of India and pressed their claim for aid . It was enough to split the camp. - Bill raged: " The Hindu religion is the most evil in the world." retorted Wally Phil: " You can't know what you're talking about.", . The words got heated and the coats were off . It was time for peace. "Lets get back to festival business ". I suggested. And a quietened Bill suggested that Ken's deadlines were really the important issue of the day. They had to be kept.

Anti car fence

    I wanted to know how the problems of sanitary equipment, the health hazards and the rubbish problems would be overcome. " We'll dig latrines" claimed Bill. " We'll start digging as soon as the shovels arrive " But the leader of the Fitzroys from St Ives admitted" : `` We didn't bring our shovels, Bill. We have an axe though , will that do?" The question of latrines was flushed aside, so we got around to talking about the six massive stages planned to accommodate the promised 150 bands and some 50 poetry readers. I wanted to know how the scaffolding would be erected - and where. Bill assured the customers: " The staging is here':- We've just got to get it across that fence." He pointed to a foot-high, anti-car fence on the edge of the festival site." Before long that might not be there and in any case we know another way of getting round it." He said his organisation would bring 100,000 people to the park by Monday,but there was no organisation of food, water, lavatories, transport or first aid for even a single person in the whole of the great park area. It is this which causes concern to the Crown state Commissioners , local councillors and the welfare services . Last year nearly 10,000 young people turned up for the festival. It ran for nearly a fortnight. In that time many needed first aid treatment. This year the local Red Cross has refused to turn out because there are no facilities and to put a tent up would be breaking the park by-laws. . . .

Back-up

    And the Crown Estate Commissioners have refused to allow Release, the drugs welfare organisation, a site in the park for the care of drugs cases. Officials at the local King Edward VII Hospital, Windsor, allowed Release representatives to set up their unit in the hospital grounds. A hospital doctor said: " We're happy to let Release handle this situation. Our doctors and nurses will provide a back-up service if required. I don't think our staff could have managed the situation on its own.! "

 


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