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Concert cancelled at 11th hour
AN outdoor concert on Castlemorton Common has been cancelled by police - 16 years after 20,000 people invaded the area and held an illegal rave.
West Mercia Constabulary stepped in at the 11th hour to stop tomorrow's live music event and warned that any "unlawful activity" would be dealt with.
The organisers, Floating Lotus, which provides solar-powered tents for summer festivals, had obtained an entertainment licence from Malvern Hills District Council, to run the event from 8pm to midnight.
But the event had been advertised on the internet and, as tickets were not sold in advance, it was impossible to know how many people would attend, prompting fears of a repeat of May 1992 when more than 20,000 travellers descended on Castlemorton Common for a bank holiday rave.
Acting superintendent Iain Bailey said: "The music event advertised as Tragic Roundabout At The Dome for the evening of Sunday, May 4, at Castlemorton has been cancelled after officers from West Mercia Constabulary and representatives from Malvern Hills District Council and Hereford and Worcester Fire Brigade met with the organiser."
He declined to comment further but added "South Worcestershire police will be monitoring the area closely and will deal robustly with any unlawful activity."
The Castlemorton rave could be heard from five miles away and grabbed national headlines in 1992.
The clean-up operation cost Castlemorton villagers and Malvern Hills District Council about £16,000, and it was estimated that 100 sheep and lambs were killed.
4:03pm Saturday 3rd May 2008
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CommentPosted by: Stan Parr, Pershore on 5:34pm Sat 3 May 08
I remember the concert well - was it really 16 years ago?
So who - or what - killed 100 sheep and lambs, then?
They kept that one quiet!
Travellers? Pop fans? Rustlers?
Just curious.
I remember the concert well - was it really 16 years ago?
So who - or what - killed 100 sheep and lambs, then?
They kept that one quiet!
Travellers? Pop fans? Rustlers?
Just curious.
Posted by: Clubber, worcester on 7:57pm Sat 3 May 08
I was there at the rave, i never saw any sheep being killed, we went to the tiolet in a few hedges tho, but that was about it.......shame this one never went off, was gonna be a good one as well
I was there at the rave, i never saw any sheep being killed, we went to the tiolet in a few hedges tho, but that was about it.......shame this one never went off, was gonna be a good one as well
Posted by: Logik, worcester on 9:31pm Sat 3 May 08
[quote][bold]Stan Parr[/bold] wrote:
I remember the concert well - was it really 16 years ago?
So who - or what - killed 100 sheep and lambs, then?
They kept that one quiet!
Travellers? Pop fans? Rustlers?
Just curious.[/quote] Sounds like you were there Stan - you old devil!!
Stan Parr wrote:
I remember the concert well - was it really 16 years ago?
So who - or what - killed 100 sheep and lambs, then?
They kept that one quiet!
Travellers? Pop fans? Rustlers?
Just curious.
Sounds like you were there Stan - you old devil!!
Posted by: hornyold rd, malvern on 7:09am Sun 4 May 08
The sheep were slaughtered by devil worshiping Masons and nothing to do with the Castlemorton common festival.
The reason that Castlemorten festival (Invasion) happened is that the police were hounding the "peace convoy", who were a large loosely knit collection of travellers. They were disperced by the police and wound up Castlemorton common and that who the fesrival started. As the peace convoy does not exist anymore and that this was to be an organised event I find the excuse for this cancellation wafer thin.
Its somewhat surprising that ultra right wing Malvern has the Big Chill festival that has proved very successful.
The sheep were slaughtered by devil worshiping Masons and nothing to do with the Castlemorton common festival.
The reason that Castlemorten festival (Invasion) happened is that the police were hounding the "peace convoy", who were a large loosely knit collection of travellers. They were disperced by the police and wound up Castlemorton common and that who the fesrival started. As the peace convoy does not exist anymore and that this was to be an organised event I find the excuse for this cancellation wafer thin.
Its somewhat surprising that ultra right wing Malvern has the Big Chill festival that has proved very successful.
Posted by: Alan2, Worcester on 11:59am Sun 4 May 08
The New Age travellers were "chased" out of Gloucestershire by their County Police and were quite distinctly told that a suitable site for them was at Castlemorton Common just over the county boundary in Worcestershire. Many travellers would say that they were told (by Gloucester Police) that Police (West Mercia) would not object if they went there. The first West Mercia knew about this invasion was roughly at 6.30pm. The first Police at Castlemorton found about 650 - 700 travellers already on site with numerous caravans and vehicles. The roads from Gloucester were choc ablock with others making their way there. Having been told That Police would not object, the travellers contacted other groups and the large scale gathering was the result. FACT
100 sheep were not killed albeit a few were from dogs savaging them. The scare story of a 100 killed was put out by a couple of commoners out of self interest. Much disruption occurred and, for a long weekend the lives of villagers in terms of peace and quiet were seriously interfered with. The reason why this gathering achieved such notoriety was because one idiot individual villager, self appointed took it upon himself to act as the local leader/dictator and broadcast/complained to all and sundry, press etc with the result that many more people got to know about it and attended it. Every community has "the village idiot" and there was certainly one there, all he succeeded in doing was broadcasting the gathering to people who would not have known anything about it. The only unpleasantness that occurred were threats by travellers to Police etc which did not materialise, as far as is known, only noise, litter, damage to hedges/fences, lack of toilet facilities and traffic problems were the anti social consequences of this gathering with, of course, a few sheep being killed, certainly about ten.
The New Age travellers were "chased" out of Gloucestershire by their County Police and were quite distinctly told that a suitable site for them was at Castlemorton Common just over the county boundary in Worcestershire. Many travellers would say that they were told (by Gloucester Police) that Police (West Mercia) would not object if they went there. The first West Mercia knew about this invasion was roughly at 6.30pm. The first Police at Castlemorton found about 650 - 700 travellers already on site with numerous caravans and vehicles. The roads from Gloucester were choc ablock with others making their way there. Having been told That Police would not object, the travellers contacted other groups and the large scale gathering was the result. FACT
100 sheep were not killed albeit a few were from dogs savaging them. The scare story of a 100 killed was put out by a couple of commoners out of self interest. Much disruption occurred and, for a long weekend the lives of villagers in terms of peace and quiet were seriously interfered with. The reason why this gathering achieved such notoriety was because one idiot individual villager, self appointed took it upon himself to act as the local leader/dictator and broadcast/complained to all and sundry, press etc with the result that many more people got to know about it and attended it. Every community has "the village idiot" and there was certainly one there, all he succeeded in doing was broadcasting the gathering to people who would not have known anything about it. The only unpleasantness that occurred were threats by travellers to Police etc which did not materialise, as far as is known, only noise, litter, damage to hedges/fences, lack of toilet facilities and traffic problems were the anti social consequences of this gathering with, of course, a few sheep being killed, certainly about ten.
Posted by: Stan Parr, Pershore on 10:42am Mon 5 May 08
Thanks you for these facts, Alan2 - they don't always come out via the media, as we all know.
No, I wasn't there Logik, but I was in Pershore by then and followed it via the papers and the media, like most of us did.
Besides, travellers and me don't mix terribly well - and also I like my flush toilets, hot water and home comforts, etc..!
I was only 8 at the time - or maybe it just feels like that!
(Perhaps I am confusing it with WWII?)
Happy Bank Holiday to you all - there's an Italian Market in Pershore today - until 4pm.
Thanks you for these facts, Alan2 - they don't always come out via the media, as we all know.
No, I wasn't there Logik, but I was in Pershore by then and followed it via the papers and the media, like most of us did.
Besides, travellers and me don't mix terribly well - and also I like my flush toilets, hot water and home comforts, etc..!
I was only 8 at the time - or maybe it just feels like that!
(Perhaps I am confusing it with WWII?)
Happy Bank Holiday to you all - there's an Italian Market in Pershore today - until 4pm.
Posted by: fronkthegonk on 4:31pm Tue 6 May 08
If I remember rightly, the travellers were on their way to the Wick Tip [Bristol] free festival which was stopped by the authorities and they ended up on the common.
I don't know whether the Glos police sent them there or not but I wouldn't be surprised as the police forces were always running travellers in and out of each others patches. I had first hand experience of this stupidity around the Castlemorton time, we were chased out of Worcestershire into Gloucestershire then back into Worcestershire, they couldn't do it again as we ended up on a magistrates property and she was the mother of one of the travellers...ha ha very funny.
As for sheep killing, I didn't hear of any but I guess with so many dogs running about then I would be surprised if there weren't a few incidents.
Most of the bad stuff that went on at free festivals was the fault of the towny druggy lot in my experience. Most of us who lived on the road were smelly but not too messy and tried to keep the peace with the locals if at all possible. Didn't always work of course but what we should remember is that a lot of the new age travelling community were [and still are] quite well educated and from middle class backgrounds who have dropped out. I lived with one lady who had a quite aristocratic background, her family having fled the Russian revolution and left a palace in St Petersburg. Bit of a come down, several generations later living in a smokey lorry in a muddy field . Nice way of life if you can handle the occasional hassle from the police, the dirt and leaky old buses that have seen better days..
If I remember rightly, the travellers were on their way to the Wick Tip free festival which was stopped by the authorities and they ended up on the common.
I don't know whether the Glos police sent them there or not but I wouldn't be surprised as the police forces were always running travellers in and out of each others patches. I had first hand experience of this stupidity around the Castlemorton time, we were chased out of Worcestershire into Gloucestershire then back into Worcestershire, they couldn't do it again as we ended up on a magistrates property and she was the mother of one of the travellers...ha ha very funny.
As for sheep killing, I didn't hear of any but I guess with so many dogs running about then I would be surprised if there weren't a few incidents.
Most of the bad stuff that went on at free festivals was the fault of the towny druggy lot in my experience. Most of us who lived on the road were smelly but not too messy and tried to keep the peace with the locals if at all possible. Didn't always work of course but what we should remember is that a lot of the new age travelling community were quite well educated and from middle class backgrounds who have dropped out. I lived with one lady who had a quite aristocratic background, her family having fled the Russian revolution and left a palace in St Petersburg. Bit of a come down, several generations later living in a smokey lorry in a muddy field . Nice way of life if you can handle the occasional hassle from the police, the dirt and leaky old buses that have seen better days..
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