Knebworth Park Concert,
June 23-25th 1978
Field Workers Report .
I arrived at 2.00 pm on Friday 23rd June and found that many festival goers
had already arrived and were setting up their tents etc. At the campsite,
two of the three 'crash' marquees had been erected and people were sheltering
from the rain under them. Malcolm Fairburn, the Campsite Manager/Medical Services
Coordinator, told me that the third 'crash' marquee would be arriving shortly
in two parts, one of which would be used by Release for their counselling
service. Also expected was a tent from which the local CVS people would run
their information service and which would be used for general welfare information.
During the afternoon I went to Stevenage and met the CVS people running the very busy festival information point in the middle of the town. When I got back to the campsite a red portable cabin had arrived to be used as the welfare and information office. The local information people moved in immediately and most enquiries at first were for the toilets and water. Only one tap was functioning on the campsite and the other water point was waiting for its bowser. Many people were complaining about the distance they had to walk to the toilets,especially in the wet weather and about the bad condition of the toilets. They got worse over the weekend. |
The infamous "Bogs " |
Stills courtesy Freddy Bannister taken from "Spirit of Knebworth" video
During the afternoon the St John ambulance/Red Cross set up their medical post on the campsite. This post was in operation through until Sunday morning. During the evening the 'trip' tent in the administration area and the welfare tent in the arena were put up. The Samaritans wanted to put up their work tents in the arena behind the welfare tent, as they had done in previous years. Malcolm Fairburn had initially said that this was not possible due to lack of space in the arena. The Arena Manager, however, said that it would be possible, so the Samaritans went ahead and put up their tent in the arena. They were later made to take it down and agreed to put it up in the administrative area between the Release 'trip' tent and the St John Ambulance post. It was arranged that the Samaritans would work from the back of the | welfare tent in the arena.
At 8.30 pm on Friday evening,
a site meeting was held in the Youth for Christ marquee, for all the welfare
groups. A rota was worked out for all the groups to assist the local CVS information
people in manning the information point in the arena during Saturday.
After the site meeting, I took the Release doctors to the St John Ambulance
base in the administrative area, where they were introduced to the officer
in charge of the St John ambulance/Red Cross operation. The Welfare/Information
point on the campsite was manned throughout Friday night/Saturday morning
by local CVS people with assistance
from Civil Aid.
Erecting perimeter fences - Knebworth 1978 |
During the night there was a shortage of space in the 'crash' marquees, which were supervised by Source. With assistance from Source, the marquees were filled as efficiently as possible, but it was felt that he lack of the third marquee and the very unfavourable weather made conditions inside the existing marquees very crowded. By 5.00 am on Saturday morning the groups working in the administration area and the arena moved off the campsite before the access roads became too congested. The arena gates were opened at 5.30 am. |
In the administrative area, Release and the Samaritans set up their 'trip' tents and coordinated their activities with the St John Ambulance medical unit.
In the arena, the Samaritans divided off part of the Welfare/information marquee to use as their work tent. Release used part of the marquee for their advice/counselling work, and the front half was used by the local volunteers and representatives of the other FWS groups on a shift for the whole day, giving out information, advice and assistance.
During the morning I visited all the St John Ambulance posts inside the arena with representatives from the Samaritans and Release, to introduce each other and to co-ordinate plans for dealing with casualties .
Beside the Welfare/Information marquee was the Sounds structure with a large notice board which rapidly became covered with messages. The area around the Sounds structure also became very congested with people using it as a rendezvous point to meet up with lost friends.
Until about midday many of the enquiries dealt with by the information people were for the toilets and water. The number of enquiries could therefore have been greatly reduced if there had been better signs indicating where water and toilets are, and also if large "You are here" were located around the arena and campsite. The maps of the arena and site plans at the Information marquee were frequently referred to by people who hadn't bought the official programme with the site map in the back.
Later in the day there were many enquiries for the times of trains and busses. These had been dealt with in the morning by a Policeman Information marquee had a full rail timetable and details of the special train and busses laid on for the concert.
During the day the campsite
was very quiet, with St John Ambulance attending to first aid, and Civil Aid
manning the welfare/information point and assisting with first aid.
At about 11.00 pm the Welfare/Information point in the arena started dealing
with cases of people who were distressed because they had lost friends. This
was especially the case with people who had not made arrangements for where
to meet up with friends if they became separated in the crowd. This increased
until well after the concert finished, when enquiries then related to where
stranded or exhausted people could find somewhere warm and dry to sleep.
In the administration area Release, the Samaritans and St John ambulance were dealing with drug cases and emotionally upset people. They were also providing emergency shelter for people who couldn't find their tent, car or friends, or who were waiting for Police reports on missing cars, or who were too exhausted to make their way to the 'crash' marquees on the campsite. The Release doctors were kept very busy for most of the night dealing with casualties in the Release, Samaritans St John's tents.
0n the campsite the two 'crash' marquees were very crowded, especially as it was a cold, wet night and the third marquee had not been delivered.
On Sunday morning Release, the Samaritans and St Johns Ambulance left the administrative area between 9.00 am and 10.00 am.
The welfare groups left the campsIte at midday after all the campers had departed. There was an enormous amount of litter left behind, especially polythene sheeting and bags which people had slept under as shelter from the rain. It seems a pity that more of this plastic couldn't have been reused and recycled.
During the period of the
festival St Johns Ambulance/Red Cross dealt
with 1185 casualties, which kept 18 ambulance vehicles busy all day and well
into the night.
The welfare groups attending
the festival were :Civil Aid, Release, St John Ambulance/Red Cross, Samaritans,
Source, Stevenage CVS and Youth for Christ, coordinated by Festival Welfare
Services.
General Comments
1. Communication between the police and welfare organisations was very good
and comments were received-from festival-goers on how helpful the Police had
been.
2. The local CVS volunteers were very helpful and necessary because of the
amount of enquiries relating to the local environment.
3. Many complaints were heard from festival-goers about the state of the toilets
on the campsite and the arena and the fact that there were no toilets just
outside the arena.
4. The weather was an important factor in contributing to the problems with
emergency sleeping accommodation. More people would have been prepared to
sleep out in the open if the weather had been fine and warm, but they desperately
wanted indoor shelter from the rain and cold.
5. Despite these last two points, it was felt that the promoter had shown
thoughtful consideration in providing a wide range of facilities for the festival-goers.
Penny Mellor