The Archive
Formatted at 1280X 1020- created October 2007 .
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Oxford New Age Fayre 2-5th May 1986.
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 |
The Archive
Formatted at 1280X 1020- created October 2007 .
|
Oxford New Age Fayre 2-5th May 1986.
|
|
"Landscape "bus at Port Meadow May 5th 1986 . © Traveller Dave This bus and many others were confiscated a few weeks after at Stoney Cross. Visit Traveller Dave's site to see many more photos of Free festival Vehicles and sites from the late 80s . |
Oxford
Port Meadow May 1986
Originally this festival was meant to be on a farmers land and run by students
(Oxford Poly?). Many bands were scheduled (Nik Turner, Bob Calvert were
rumoured) but the farmer bottled out, I think when he realised the Convoy
were coming (this was less than a year after the Beanfield).
Myself and two mates
came down from Coventry (where we were at The Polytechnic) in Jed’s
van who was on the way to Southhampton. When we got to Oxford there were
all sorts of freaks looking for the (cancelled?) festie.
The rumour got around to go to Port Meadow on the North edge of Oxford where
maybe 30-40 people had started to assemble. After a while buses started
arriving, the gate to the Meadow was still locked, so they Convoy elements
decided to come back under cover of darkness and take the site. A very worried
bloke from the Council had turned up and put an extra padlock on the gate!
We camped up locally over night away from the intended site and got stoned (we had brought plenty of hash). Myself and Adrian came back the next morning to find about 35 buses, trucks and trailers had taken the field farthest from town. The local pub was full of convoy types drinking with a few bemused locals.
A stage was set up and
we wandered around on a hunt for some acid/mushrooms.
Eventually we came across a queue of people outside a trailer. We joined
the queue and when we got to the trailer door purchased (quite cheaply)
some mushrooms.
A number of bands played, the Cardiacs, Magic Mushroom Band, Ozric Tentacles amongst others I cant remember. The weather was a bit dodgy but I seemed immune to the rain as the shrooms kicked in.
Later over the weekend more people turned up along with more psychedelic wares to consume. On the Monday (Bank holiday) night a version of Hawkwind labelled Snortwind played (minus Dave Brock). The new Hawks drummer Danny Thompson got some acid off a mate of ours and apparently didn’t have a particularly nice time trippin (for the first time) whilst on stage. That’s all I really remember - I returned to Coventry and continued revising for my Metallurgy Exams!
Bishbosh
