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

The Archive.

Updated July 2021


The Fifteenth National Jazz ,Blues and Rock Festival.
Richfield Avenue. 
Reading 
August 22-24th 1975.

The 1975 Reading Festival.

Passes, tickets , site plans , plumbing and behind the scenes stuff .

courtesy Mick Davis unless otherwise stated.

items courtesy Mick Davis

 

 

The Hole

 

courtesy Mick Davis

© Mick Davis

This is the 'Plumbers Bar' as shown on the site plan I sent earlier. The large chap with the hat and beard sitting on the left is Ron Bartholomew otherwise known as "Our Glorious Leader" boss of the plumbing crew. He had been doing the Plumpton festivals and building work on the Marquee club for Harold Pendleton for years and this year he demanded that we have our own bar backstage as we would not be allowed in the artists one and he was "buggered if he was going have his men queue up behind a load of hippies after a hard days work".

Harold agreed, providing we share it with our sworn enemies - the sparkies -Pat Chapman and his lads from Entec. Most of our evenings were spent in largely successful battles to out drink, out smart, out fornicate, out drug, out smoke and stay up later than this bunch of light bulb changers. They are the lads on the right hand table in the photo probably drinking milky tea.

Ron had some firm's t-shirts printed which consisted of a yellow hammer & sickle on a red background with the words "The Real World". This logo was repeated on the sign board above the tent and one night Entec got a pot of paint and changed the hammer & sickle into a bog and plunger! Great bunch of lads.

We also had a couple of t-shirts that said "Festival Director" printed to wind up Harold and his men in suits. You can see one of them seated next to Ron.

© Mick Davis

Concreting in one of the septic tanks. Reading August 1975. I'm on the extreme left (I've put on a bit of weight since then),and Ron is standing on the tank with a large concrete vibrator. Shortly after this was taken Jack Barrie came over and we chased him around the concrete truck with the vibrator............

© Mick Davis

courtesy Mick Davis

courtesy Mick Davis

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1975 festival pages and links


The early festivals.

You can find out the complete line ups of the first festivals if you follow the links below .
  1961
1962
1963
1964

Festivals 1965-1990

Most of these have fairly complete documentation .But new contributions of any sort are always welcome regarding any of the festivals.
Richmond 1965
Windsor 1966
 Windsor 1967
Sunbury 1968
Plumpton 1969
Plumpton 1970
Reading 1971
Reading 1972
Reading 1973
Reading 1974

 

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