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Recollections.
Ecstatic freak dancing at Windsor 1973- © Vin Miles |
1972
Hi
What a great site!
I was there in 72 (I think) and it was fantastic and stays in my mind for many
reasons.
I lived in Weston-Super-Mare and me and a couple of mates borrowed my mum’s
V-dub beetle. I was a learner and my mate Brian was the ‘proper’
driver, but we soon were lost so we hightailed it onto the motorway reasoning
that amongst all the cars I wouldn’t get spotted. Got to the Windsor area
parked the car and made our way on foot to the festival site.
The things that stick in my mind are someone on stage exhorting the crowd to
go and rip off a milkman who was selling milk at exorbitant prices; I think
it was someone who had nicked a milk float, so he was duly done over.
It was my first meeting with the Hare Krishnas as we were young and stupid with
not much money it was a revelation to find someone giving away food for free.
The association with the Krishnas has been long standing and I still visit the
temple in Soho St when I am in London. For many years after I always gave money
to devotees I saw on the streets in thanks for the food we received.
It was the first time I ever saw a real live woman naked! There were at least
two women, with body paint all over, just walking around the site. We were astounded.
Also we had a visit from the Hells Angels. On the first night we had pitched
out tents and we were relaxing in out respective tents. I was lying on my back
in mine, feet stuck out of the tent, candles making a nice glow. When I heard
my mate Jimmy yelling from the other tent at ‘some bastards’ that
had collapsed his tent, at about the same time my feet started to burn. I turned
around and one of the Angels had put a candle under my feet. As I poked my head
out of my tent, Jimmy emerged shouting and swearing but when he saw the group
of Angels laughing at him he just retreated back into the collapsed tent. We
didn’t particularly feel threatened it was just a bit of a laugh.
To be honest I can’t remember much about the bands but I still can remember
the whole experience. It was great, my first festival.
Dr. Rob Burton
Hi,
I helped organise the second and third Free Windsor Festivals. My memories are
very vague. I remember an old Fire station near Fleet Street which had roof-top
views over the Thames where I spent Saturdays mailing letters out. I also remember
a meeting at a squat at Cornwall Terrace in London. The Second Festival had
Hawkwind appearing at dusk with Calvert opening with On the Edge of Time. The
Daily Telegraph had a very good photograph of the second festival which I was
sent by the newspaper which is now lost. Somewhere I have the original poster.
I was only 16 when I got involved with helping out at the squat in Carmelite Street in London. I used to go there on Saturdays to generally help with mailing and other work. Ubi was there generally organizing the work but I cannot recall if Sid R was there. I think there was about ten or so people in the squat. I remember talking with a guy from Manchester particularly about anarchy.
The squat in Cornwall Terrace was attended by a hundred or so people to discuss Windsor III although I do not who actually lived in the squat. I remember a vote being taken of whether or not to let the press attend-I think he was from the Daily Telegraph.
The problem is recollection.
I took no notes or photographs; names came and went and I am now 51.What I did
33-34 years ago is hard to recall. All I remember is that Windsor II was a great
experience which I never have forgotten while Windsor II is always tinged with
what happened on the final day.
Regards
Richard Lloyd
i remember the tree being burnt down as i recall there was a north american teepee just in front of it and the owners were having kittens in case it got destroyed.
i did'nt stay to find out ,i remember the way the police treated every one it was disgusting, was it royal ascot that week ? i recall seeing lots of fancy cars and snotty people driving past,frizbees were being thrown everywhere ,and i camped next to hawkwind ,i tried to speak to them but they were well out of it,
i got filmed by the tv people shagging my girlfriend and her dad saw us on tv ,boy did we get it when we got back [ha ha]
your right people didnt do things to help you for profit, they did it because they could and wanted to spread there love and generosity i only went to two windsors 72&73
peace pete
otton derby
ps. do you remember the van driving through the park with big loud speakers on its roof playing genesiss nursey rhymes
| Hi I just did a search on what for me was an extremely memorable event. I was a pretty sick guy who didn’t know it at the time – absolutely sold on the hippy dream of opting out of society and living off the land as the ‘answer’. Me and the people I shared a house with were truly spaced out for a couple of years and, sadly, I got damaged along the way. My memories of 1972 are sparse but incredible. Sensing I was somehow ‘led’ to be there I remember a band wearing masks. I remember doing some kind of breathing and feeling responsible for the breakdown of the PA system. Others there were into witchcraft big time. There was one guy there who had a tattoo-like mark on his forehead who carried a really evil vibe. There were those who had lit a fire the night before and the remnants of what they had burned were still there – and the smell was like hell. The ‘Children of God’ were there with a bus. I got saved! But I was sick. I stripped off completely (against my nature) thinking that I would somehow bring about Eden – no-one really understood – least of all the ‘Children of God’ who beat a hasty retreat. I picked up and bagged the litter and remember a photographer taking photographs nearby. My hair was long. Unbelievable! 31 years later I am a minister of the Gospel somewhere in Scotland – having been really converted and found Jesus to be REAL through what I heard from others at Windsor Park in 1972. You would not believe what I went through! Windsor Park 1972 is a great search. Here is my contribution. Who were the band with masks? They were spooky. But the spookiest of all was the guy with the tattoo on his forehead. I spoke with his and another guy who said ‘Now there are three of us’. It was like something out of Highlander. I wonder if he is still alive. Nigel |
Bikers circa 1973 Photo © Boz |
I'm
a belgian musician, and I played with my band (at the time) at the 72 windsor
festival edition. I'm currently finishing a Ph.D. on psychedelic music, that's
why I found your site.
I was on holidays in london at easter time in 72 and I met the organiser (can't
remember his name...Rob ???) at hyde park's speakers corner, he was handing
a petition about legalizing grass. I signed it and told him if he wanted a belgian
band for his festival, we were the ones...at that time, i was making some kind
of soft machine like stuff...
We came to the headquarters of the festival in london and were carried there
in a van full of free food...
I remember that we played the same day as the Pink Fairies, and also Hawkwind,
they were very good...
We did not have enough money to carry our equipment with us from belgium, so
we had to wait for a band who had quite the same kind of setup as ours to play
right after ;-)
Somebody recorded a cassette tape from our performance, but the keyboard player
kept it and I never heard it again...
The next day, I remember the police harrassing people and we left the festival
at that time
I had some leaflets with the festival headline...if I could get a hand on them,
I'd send one to you, but it's such a long time ago... where are they in my house...
alain
More about Ubi Dwyer here
|
1973 I had heard about Windsor
72 from a chick who was living in the infamous White Cottage in Tenby
at the same time as me. She was full of enthusiasm for the co-operative
spirit, and told how when a band had played at night, and there wasn't
enough power for the lights, the car owners had pulled their cars up in
a semi circle around the stage and turned on their headlights. Cool! So in 73, when I heard that
it was going to be on again, I convinced my partner that we should go.
Go we did, taking our young baby with us. When we got to Windsor we weren't
sure where the site was. A friendly policeman directed us and several
others to the wrong place, miles away from the real site. It didn't look
right. It didn't feel right. After a couple of hours we went off and eventually
found the right place. The atmosphere was very friendly and supportive - a real community spirit. Added to that was the sense that we were doing something important. We were occupying Royal land for the people. We were standing up for individuality. We were making a statement of freedom. We were heroes! I don't know if it was 73 or 74 or both in which the Wallies from Stonehenge came and set up a tent full of tin cans of unlabeled food. |
A sign read: "Take what you
need - the rest is greed." I took a few cans. Mostly it was Heinz Vegetable
Salad. Luckily, none of the cans were dog food! I also don't remember if it
was 73 or 74 that, on the first day of the
festival, before a a big crowd had gathered, a man built a geodesic dome in
the copse. He was so pleased because people gathered round him in admiration.
Then a couple of policemen came and asked him to take it down. He refused. They
set about destroying his dome and arrested him. A girl took photos and shouted
at the police that she was going to send the photos to The Daily Telegraph.
I remember thinking that The Guardian would have been a better paper.
I don't remember many of the bands. Most of the time was spent chilling out
or walking into Windsor to get a wash. There was an empty house not far from
the site which had a broken pipe. This provided our drinking water and washing
facilities.
 |
Photo © Vin Miles
I remember watching one band and
someone asking if they could hold our baby. We passed her over. We then saw
her being passed from hand to hand as several of the crowd thought it kinda
neat to be holding a baby. Half an hour later she was passed back to us from
the other side - she had done a complete circuit of the audience!
My main memory is of a couple of friends coming up to our tent in great excitement.
They wanted me to see a band called Ace because they were playing a distinctive
double necked guitar. The guitar was one I had liberated from a shop some months
previously and then gone to Chalk Farm to sell, via a friend of a friend. While
watching the band a girl came up to me. I don't recall much or any conversation.
My recollection is that she mostly communicated with gestures and vocal noises
like moans and grunts.
She somehow indicated that she wanted a cigarette and I gave her one. She broke
off the filter before smoking it, then indicated a small, dark space under the
stage. The stage wasn't very high, but there was just enough space to crawl
underneath. Which is what we did. She wrapped herself round me and began kissing.
We made love under the stage. Then I crawled back out and
went back to my partner. I don't think she's the girl in the picture dancing
naked on stage. My memory is that she had short dark hair...but, it's possible.
She was certainly crazy enough to do it.
Steve (SilkTork)
Hi ,
I was fascinated by your site and offer a couple of nuggets that may be of interest. I've got a recording of Hawkwind at Windsor 73 buried in a box in my wardrobe. It's a C90 but the length of each side indicates that it was probably recorded on a C60. When I eventually turn it up I'll mail you a complete track listing. The quality is pretty grim but it's interesting as it contains a reasonable jam and a version of Calvert's Ode to a Time Flower both unavailable elsewhere. My efforts to track down the rest of the gig (one hopes that there was another C60 lurking), have come to nothing. If I remember rightly, the inside cover of Space Ritual Vol.2 on American Phonograph records had a couple of pictures from this particular festival but, sadly, they were rather badly reproduced in black and yellow.
Best wishes Michael Barnes
Photo © Vin Miles |
I was there too! Been meaning
to look for any references for a long time - as you do. Finally did so and immediately
found your entertaining site.
Can't add a great deal as I have a terrible memory and was so shattered (not
being a natural camper) that I wandered round in a daze most of the time.
Like another of your contributors I was but 16 - 31 years ago - frightening!
I travelled down, fromThe Wirral, with a school friend, Mike. We arrived very
early on as well and set up our tent in the woods. Can vividly remember wandering
round Windsor at some point and being really stared at like I was an alien and
at that point I didn't even really have long hair!
Cheers,
David Owen Davies.
Unknown band playing Windsor 1973 © Boz |
Early Windsors were great.
I was living in South Wales then and a host of us made the trek in a variety
of old vans and I on my trusty pushbike. The pushy was always the easiest way
past the police roadbocks etc, After all what fit-looking young athlete on a
road bike would be carrying quantities of contraband in his saddle bags? Even
a tatty one with blond locks and denim shorts managed to get through unchallenged
every time.
I have no idea what was going on on the stages or even who played. Our little
tribe was big enough to provide our own entertainment and distractions. I remember
lots of random acts of theatre and music all over the site.
As far as I can recall the first two Windsors were akin to a very colourful
camping trip with a few hundred other nomads, surrounded by a wall of uniforms.
One of the biggest challenges was going into Windsor for supplies of food and
water.
On one excursion I clearly remember about ten of us piling into an old Austin
van (J something- I never was an auto freak) and going to town. After stocking
up with food and a couple of drafts at the pub we headed back as the sun went
down.
Low and behold, as we approached the common a couple of bobbies jumped out and
waved down the van. I was in the front passenger seat with the first officer
rapidly approaching, when the gormless git sitting next to me, in the middle,
fessed up to having our total stash of acid and hash in his hand. This after
we had clearly made it a policy that no dope was to leave the site, especially
in the van.
Luckily I managed to grab it and, with a deft under-the-dash flick, it flew
through the driver's side window just before we ground to a halt and the breathless
officers ordered us all out for a strip search.
Needless to say I had to return to the spot after dark and spent hours on my
hands and knees scouring the road, with a group of cops not that far away. Eventually
I found a very flat but smokeable lump of brown squashed into the tarmac.
Michael McGrath
I remember that at this festival
Bill Dwyer wanted everybody to relocate to nearby Virginia Water (Waters?).
We had a vote and Bill lost.
He decided he would go anyway and led a small band off to camp out there for
the night ('We will go to Virginia Waters' he kept saying).
At that time I remember thinking it seemed to go rather against the democratic
spirit of the festival. Later I realised he was an anarchist, so I don't
suppose he felt bound by democaratic votes. I wonder would he have expected
the others to go if he had won the vote?
I was about 16 and I found him quite charismatic. He had a gorgeous Irish accent.
In fact, just because of his voice, I was certain that I had seen
him at Speaker's Corner some time before promoting acid.
Also remember that every now and again people would start calling out for somebody called 'Wally'.
One person would start it off and then it would spread through the crowd. It seemed really funny at the time but it is only through reading the site that I have learnt about the 'wallies'. Or else I knew about them and have totally forgotten that I knew!
I spent just three hours at Windsor on August 26th, the bank-holiday Monday. The weather was fine all afternoon, not sunny, but warm, then around 7pm there was a thunderstorm, by which time I'd left. The bands were underamplified and the sound system kept breaking down or buzzing. I was never sure of the names of the bands who I heard, but it didn't matter. The atmosphere was friendly, despite a big police presence. One couple even got married; a call went out over the PA for "a vicar or a sea-captain". There were ice-cream vans, hot-dog vans, jewellery and magazine stalls - the usual festival stuff, but rubbish was piled in very neat heaps, unlike at Reading, where it was just chucked anywhere. I bought a poster of
David Bowie for 10p. A naturist was there, handing out leaflets. There
was a rumour going round that Man would be playing later. I had a friend
who was a big fan of theirs, so I left the site to get to a phone and
tell him. No mobiles then. While I was phoning him from a call-box in
Windsor town centre the rain came and I decided not to return to the site.
I don't think my friend ever made it there, but then neither did Man. |
 Photo
© Vin
Miles |
More about Ubi Dwyer here
