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The Windsor Freek Press.
                   By Mac MacDhomhnuil.
 

I was part of a group made up of "non authoritarian" communists , feminists and Anarchist Freeks! Hence the proliferation of red and black flags in the photos!! I was proudly part of the latter combo.    We had an offset litho printing press, which we operated out of a squat in Islington. ( Hemmingford Road). Our print collective 's principle rested on the training of people to print their own under -ground publications.

Groups would pay a contribution toward material costs, and ideally they would be able to work the press autonomously, once they got the hang of operating it.

In any case, our collective loaded up a minibus with a duplicator, (remember those?) stencils, a typewriter and reams of paper. We had a large tent and a few smaller ones too. Our bus got stopped and searched by the "Rozzers" but fortunately we had hidden the noxious substances very well!!    Anyhow, we set up a sort of "compound" when we reached the site, and from the get go named our broadsheet: "The Windsor Freek Press." As far as I can remember, we were the only daily publication during our short stay. (3 days?)    I can be seen in red hat, typing the day's bulletin.

We printed up information about plainclothed cop's physical descriptions, the going price of hash, acid and 'shrooms and ideas on how to prevent the constant surveillance by helicoptors. One suggestion was that  maybe we could fly masses of balloons/kites, thereby discouraging fly overs!! (Sort of like the WW2 blimps!!).    Unfortunately, I never kept any copies of The Freek Press, and would be surprised if anyone else did.    We often had people dropping into our "compound" to give us encouragement, news to print, and a general array of psychedelics.....        Eventually, a sort of ad hoc committee was set up, composed of Diggers, Anarchists, Hippies and...yes, the Hare Krishna group!! They were very generous with organizing food and let us use their ginormous tent.         Pretty soon there was a latrine committee, (See me in photo with shovel at the ready!!) garbage committee, and water run committee. ("Committee"is a bit of a mis-nomer here!!)   Right : Creating the latest bulletin for the "Windsor Freek Press"

I recall a magical moment, with wood fire smoke wafting through the trees, as the sun set. Jimi Hendrix's All Along The Watchtower provided the sound track, and I felt I never wanted to leave.

Looking back, I saw myself then as part of a movement to radicalize the freeks away from love and peace and passivity, and towards more direct action and the building of a federated Anarchist movement.    It happened for a while, and I shall never forget the experience.                                  Mac

• Freek Press Issues

Free Festival links.

• Free festivals of the 1970s - index of all known free festivals and links to all major sites ,photos ,links , etc
• Jezaland. -a fantastic archive of photos from various festivals of the 70s , go see !
• Alan Lodge photographer - One Eye on the Road.
• Festivals at Stonehenge
• Weed - more about Stonehenge( and other cool stuff ) at Weeds site
• Dice George's - Stonehenge site .
• Festival Eye at Stonehenge.
• Hard Core Carvers- festival archive and info on contemporary festivals in the UK
• Alan Dearling Veteran of the travelling scene has five excellent PDF's on his site that deal with the free festival scene in the 70s and 80s.

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