Bickershaw . Lancashire .U.K.
Friday May 5th to Sunday May 7th 1972.

Mole Express .

A local underground newsletter, Mole Express brought out this issue a week or so before the festival was due to be held. Thanks to the intrepid hoarder Steve Austin for providing the scans !

Transcript from front page.

VOLCANOES NO DANGER, SAY EXPERTS
HAVANA, MAY 4
There has been a good deal of ill considered gossip about the Bickershaw popular music festival organised by Mole and the board of Holy G Productions .
It is being claimed in some quarters that our joint concern for the sefety and comfort of our patrons falls considerable distance behind our desire for a vast profit.
Indeed, some dismal Jimmies have raked up some very smelly skel¢tons of long since disecredited red herrings in their pursuit , of causing embarrasment to our respective companies.
Of course, we, the organisers know of the existance of a few mine workings here and there scattered near the festival site.
We know too that the site is in a valley known for its rather inclement weather.
But words like 'swamp','Atlantis' and 'disaster area' are as inaccurate as they are libelous.
We realise, as will our patrons, that if the elements go against our friends at Holy Ghost Productions, then we could have a spot or rain or two.
It could become a little damp underfoot. But who really cares ebout a little deprivation at a time like this ?
We should all be proud to be sinkinG (sorry that should read singing) at the greatest music extrav-aganza the universe has ever seen, In the word of our religous adviser, the Rev Ron Posery :
Pay up, shut up or piss off and pass the oars.'

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Transcript from the back page.

POLICE,SECURITY ,DRUGS

Lancashire County Constabulary will be out in force, though uniformed officers will not be inside the gates. They will have tents on either side of the festival entrances, watching for 'bothercausers' on their way in, whom they will presumably turn away from the site, tickets or not. The police headquarters away from the site is at INCE and if you or your friends are busted, that's where they'll be taken. There aren't any phones for miles so the best bet is to inform Release or one of the Northem Info services in the welfare area.
There will be plain clothes cops in in the crowd. They're not that hard to spot usually; A couple, casually dressed but not scruffy, men at least 5'8" tall, women aften with blonde wigs.The fence is 12-15 feet high, sunk a foot into the ground and consists of corrugated iron sheeting bolted to a steel scaffolding frame Tickets will be passed under a fluoroscope at the turnstiles to check for forgeries.
Securicor will be handling ticket money at the entrances, but security inside is cloaked in secrecy. They WON'T be in uniform and they WON'T have dogs, says Mr Beadle. Probably Securicor in plainclothes, although nasty rumours have said that soldiers on leave, or members of the TAVR,were involved, and would treat the festival as an exercise in crowd control.
Estimates have put the number of security as high as 500; with the 500 police on duty this makes 1000 heavies for maybe 100000 people, maybe less. i.e.one in every hundred people will be a cop of some sort.

CAR PARKS

Two. One at each end of the site , but the one on the Leigh side is the main one. Part of this park is apparentIy on a levelled slagheap from which car owners have to walk across a railway to reach the site. Not to worry, the site manager has only seen two trains in three weeks., and of course there will be no trains at all at the weekend. i

SURVIVAL

At this time of year its likely to be very cold at night, and as explained on page 3 the site could get very wet if there's any rain in the previous week (it's a marsh in the middle). Ground sheet/plastic sheeting is essential, and we believe will be available, at a price, on site.
One of the info/help services intends to bring an extra, free, dorm tent, but don't count on getting in. . ..

TOILETS

Alarming stories have been heard about the bogs or lack of them; the site manager told MAGIC that there would be two or three blocks in the camping area, another inside the arena at the back, and "Various urinals scattered about" The local UDC have recently gone back on their original offer to lay in special sewage pipes to cope with' the festival's shit. Which could be dodgy on a poorly drained site.

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