Formatted at 1920 X 1020 minimum - failure to view at this res may cause weird formatting , you have been warned !!!!!!!
Updated July 2021
| For information on today's festivals see eFestivals.co.uk
Big BIG thanks to our sponsor Neil ! |
This site is dedicated in the memory of 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. |
