The Elephant Fayre

Port Eliot .

St Germans. Cornwall.

July 29th - August 1st .1982.

Siouxsie and the Banshees,

John Cooper Clarke,

The Albion Band,

Arizona Smoke Revue,

Chas and Dave,

Dizzy and the Doormen.

   The second Elephant Fayre was more ambitious in terms of musical fare , featuring the celebrated punk/new wave band Siouxsie and The Banshees who attracted a crowd of at least 4,000 -around eight times the number of punters who attended in 1981.The Banshees set was recorded and bootlegged widely and is still dong the rounds today .

   Mick West who took these photos , comments : "went up from Penzance to a couple of Elephant Fayres (my wife was a dancer in a Penzance dance troupe called 'Cheap Frills' which was a support act at the Fayre) and I took quite a few pics. The one with Siouxsie and the Banshees was like 2 separate festivals... the Siouxsie fans were punk/goth black dressed and were only there for a day for Siouxsie....quite a fashion gap from the older hippies".

   The Elephant Fayre was supposed to have been constantly plagued by travellers in the form of the " Peace Convoy " .We don't know how many travelers were present in 1982 , but we do know that if any did attend they were not the " Peace Convoy " as this group was hundreds of miles away at the time busy humiliating the authorities at Greenham Common free festival.

   Labeled" The Peace Convoy" by the esteemed Convoy Steve in 1982, " As you know , it was I - the brave and fearless Convoy Steve , who originally coined the name 'Peace Convoy' when we were all at Stonehenge in 1982 - I made the one and only Peace Convoy stencil and went round spraying it onto everyone's vehicle before we went to Greenham - the stencil went off to Tipi valley in the care of Tipi Jean who had an old ice-cream van but I am afraid she has since lost it. "

   However ,there were others who had joined the convoys ranks who were not as peaceful or as together as the original convoy members. But as Steve labeled the Convoy in summer 82 and did not ever attend the Elephant Fayre , its safe to say that the " Peace Convoy " was not in attendance at the Elephant Fayre in 1982 as they all buzzed off to East Anglia after the Greenham festival - there to be demonized by a very willing tabloid press who merrily began sowing the seeds of outrage that eventually led to the mass persection of ALL travellers by the authorities during the 80s and beyond.

    It was in fact rather difficult to say just who WERE the members of the "Peace Convoy " as the years progressed .As traveller numbers increased in the early 80s, there were numerous convoys traversing the country at any one time and many of the original members dropped out, to be replaced by some less idealistic elements.

   As Convoy Steve says " I left the convoy in 1982 after realising that the anarchistic energy that fuelled it was never going to be predictable and it was attracting elements that I did not want to be associated with. I went on to travel with a smaller bunch of close friends who were not thieves/junkies/twats and who had a positive outlook on the traveling scene. The 'Peace Convoy' as an entity didn't really last for more than that year then became just the 'Convoy' "

Banshees' Set list

• She's a carnival -
• Halloween
• Fireworks
• Green fingers
• Coal mind
• Happy house
• Pulled to bits
• Nightshift
• Cascade
• Sin in my heart
• So unreal
• Painted bird
• Melt
• Arabian knights
• Spellbound
• Voodoo dolly
• Slowdive Monitor. 

   Unfortunately , it seems that some of these less scrupulous elements tended to gravitate towards attending the Fayre. Their disruptive presence eventually led to the demise of the festival. But that was several years in the future . After the success of the 1982 event the organisers were encouraged to plan towards establishing an even more ambitious lineup of bands for the 1983 festival.

The late lamented Roger Hutchinson was as usual , in attendance and he sent us this report .

   For the 82 Fayre, I was going to act as tent technician for the Centre Ocean Stream company who were appearing there on the old grass tennis courts above the Elephants adventure playground. I had conceived and built them a large theatre tent during the previous year and for a couple of hours work to erect the tent, Gill and I got in for free.

   We took our good friend Jeff and shared the cost of his ticket so he could afford to go and we camped on the performers field under a giant orange and white striped parachute to shade us from the constant sun.

   On arrival I shot off and scored the necessary weed and wine from some enterprising guy in an old bell tent and we were quickly blotto so sat in the middle of site, watching it come alive as the sunset faded to dark. The weather was hot and so the riverbank was like a spaced-out Skeggy where punters cooled off, joyfully in the buff, as it isn't considered normal behaviour to pack a bathing costume for a music festival!

   The only band I can remember by name was Siouxsie and The Banshees and I only took in two numbers before finding something else more in harmony with the surroundings. Experiencing life as a couple really blunts it's intensity and the way you interact with what's going on - if it wasn't for the photos I would have hardly remembered anything.

Festival Welfare Services Report.

FIELD WORKER'S REPORT

This festival was held on a beautiful estate at Port Eliot, beside a river estuary on the Cornish coast. It was a large site with the festival spread out over the area. It was exciting discovering all sorts of events, stalls, etc, hidden between the trees.
A fantastic variety of entertainment was provided, including films, theatre, music, poetry and workshops, which took place both in the open and under cover in different structures around the site. A circus big top was the evening venue for bands who attracted large crowds. There were many traders and craftspeople, with the emphasis on local products.

It was difficult to estimate the attendance, as the crowds were scattered over the site and many visitors came just for the evening music. I estimated between 5 and 10,000 people over 3 days. There were a lot of local visitors and children as well as young people coming for the music. The emphasis was not so much on camping, although a campsite was provided. Admission charges were reasonable and the festival was good value for money.

Welfare.

The first aid and medical services were run by a local doctor, who organised a very impressive unit in the main part of the site, on 24 hour duty. The unit was busy over the festival, dealing with a range of ailments and accidents. Medical personnel were on duty near the big top for the evening concerts, but they were not very obvious and should have had a more visible unit there. We recommend next year a temporary first aid post if large events are to take place at a distance from the main site. The same would apply to the campsite, which was separated from the main arena, and where we would recommend emergency overnight first aid cover.

Public telephones were installed near the entrance and were well used throughout the festival.

Food and Drink.

A very wide selection of food and drink, hot and cold, and vegetarian food was provided at reasonable prices. There was a large marquee housing the bar and many eating places were under cover, which was fortunate as the weather was rainy. Most food was good quality at reasonable prices, except near the big top in the evening, where the choice was limited to more expensive "fast foods". Supplies of drinking water were insufficient, and we recommend better arrangements for next year, with accessible drinking water taps clearly marked.

Constructed wooden units with seats over deep pits, partitioned and covered, were provided on site. There seemed to be plenty, but they were not obviously marked for people not used to recognising these constructions. They were not lit at night therefore difficult to use in the dark and got messy. They were insufficiently filled in with earth or lime during the festival, so started to smell. The units would have been ok if better maintained and illuminated.

Campsite.
Facilities for camping were not very good, as the campsite was on a sloping stubble field outside the main area.It had
one set of constructed toilets which survived ok and were covered with polythene for shelter. Unfortunately they were
illuminated by light bulbs resting on the plastic screening, which was very dangerous. Water was supplied
initially from a tap on a cattle trough, but the tap was removed so water was supplied from a bowser. There was an
open-back trailer on the campsite for rubbish disposal.

General.

There was plenty of dead wood in the area for campfires, so there was little destruction to the local environment. Oil drums for litter were scattered around the site and emptied regularly, so the site was kept reasonably clean. The festival program was very reasonably priced and contained information about events on site, although it was a little confusing, as so much was happening in different parts of the site and events were not often running to time. It contained a site plan showing most facilities and also local transport arrangements. There was a wonderful children's play area with all sorts of fun structures and many entertainments.