in the beginning

after the bash

some cartoons

newspaper accounts

other accounts

assoc. links

main page

------------------

   For the total solar eclipse in Cornwall on August 11th 1999,  the co-owners of the land we have in Cornwall decided to throw a party, (we may refer to it as our party, therefore, but this has no legal implications) and if you think that sounds complicated, be glad this is an edited version of events, and not counting the twelve months of headf*** that preceded the actual party.

   So, leaving all the organisation to everyone who thought throwing a free party wouldn't be a good idea, and God willing, to make a veritable fortune instead, we happily arrived down in Cornwall filled with the secure knowledge that we have no legal connection to the inevitable mayhem that goes with throwing a big party.

   We arrived on the Saturday before the eclipse, and the site had already filled up with pretty much most of the travelling community that were in Cornwall at the time, having been directed there by the police. These folk had been evicted from a large site near to St Agnes Head. They were told it was a donation based festival, (which it wasn't) and that travellers were very welcome. So everyone turned up to find they were supposed to pay, which caused a bit of bother, and they ended up stormimg the gates. That was the point that the lads were at when we arrived. And that was a relatively good start.

   So when we woke up from a much needed sleep (we travelled through Friday night) Duncan was recovering from a visit from the Chief Constable of the Devon and Cornwall constabulary. He was served with the first of his noise abatement orders, and told that it was just a formality, and not to worry about it.(!!!)

   When we arrived up at the gates that evening, it was mad! Shortly before, there were a couple of local lads who decided to 'help' with security. Another convoy had arrived, having also been told by the police the same story, with the same reaction on both sides. The front vehicle started to get really arsey, and started shunting the bus forwards, only this time the local lad decided that the only way to get these people to see reason, was to hit the windscreen of the vehicle with a scaffolding bar. Which wasn't very clever. He got a bit of a kicking, and was told to go away. This he did, leaving the head of our security to try and sort out the resulting anger and confusion. Which he did amicably without any futher problem.

  Another important factor was that the convoys didn't consist entirely of travellers, as sound systems from all over the place were hearing of the party, and joining the flow of vehicles, as did the bus who ended up with the broken screen. So! By now there were about 1500 people hell bent on having a kicking party, and the atmosphere was totally electric! People were turning up constantly, and everyone was totally up for it. We were having a completely mad time in the caravan by the main gates, after having found some nice sweeties. I bought some candles, so it was a brilliant ambient vibe, with people dropping in and out constantly, all to a background of banging techno. After a top night then a morning spent chilling out in one of the cafes, which belonged to some friends of Daves, we got some kip.

   Sunday was the day the police decided to pay the site a nice visit, and to warn everyone to keep the music down !!:) Which was funny. Imagine! Of course that night was rocking, with the sound systems going full blast, all night. We spent another night in the company of the security lads, who incidentally were a complete top laugh, and provided us with a constant source of entertainment throughout the whole affair. When, on Monday the police failed to materialised as warned, things began to get silly.(in a good way) as everyone thought we may as well party like it was 1999, so party we did. Me and Dave found some amazing smarties and found ourselves to be in a similar state to when we sat outside the dance tent at Glastonbury when Fatboy Slim was on, anyway that's another story. You could have sunbathed in our glow!.

   Tuesday was the day that it all happened. We had stayed up till about 9.30 a.m, and just as we dropped off to sleep, we heard the sound of police helicopters and loud jeering by what sounded like an awful lot of pissed off people. What happened next, we found, was lots of crazy madness that lasted about four hours. This is where it all gets really silly.

Above photo taken from The Times

sign of the times I reckon

   Nobody can agree on what exactly happened, but the facts that can be agreed on by most people, are that the 150 armoured policemen turned up fully equipped with CS gas and a bad attitude, ready to do business. The police decided that the most troublesome sound system, just happened to be the one closest to the main gates (they were actually amongst the few who turned off at 11pm as they had lots of children in the first field). The police then "captured" the toilets (which everyone thought was an appropriate punishment in itself), and proceded to be rather heavy handed in their methods (see newspaper reports) and managed to get their intended sound system, then went to take it to what they thought was safety, just outside the gates. They then went back to 'sort out' the jeering mob. While they were doing this baton charge, a number of party goers jumped the hedge, and passed the sound system back on site.(chuckle) It was during this baton charge that two children aged four and ten somehow ended up getting a face full of CS spray and everyone went mental. The police were then attacked with whatever everyone could lay their hands and driven off site!!! The two kids were seen to by the site paramedics, along with people had been injured by the police batons.

  These are the main points out of a thousand accounts, and what was reported in the press. The aftermath was a really tense afternoon, with everyone waiting and ready to kick off. There was a big worry that the police were going to come back completely mob handed, no one had ever seen the police beaten, so we were expecting a bit of a pasting, with a lot more of the same. So a barricade was constructed out of buses and other vehicles, to stop the police storming straight back in. They drove past, but didn't stop and that was that. WE WON!!!!!!!!!!!!! That night the sounds were turned seriously up, and no one gave a shit about anything. Mad, mad, mad!

So this was the night it became a free party, the security gave in to the inevitable, and an attitude of fuck em was had by one and all. So the eclipse itself the next morning was a bit of an anti climax. It was cloudy, and we were too shitfaced to notice much apart from everything going dark! And the police didn't come back. WOW

   And that's about it. We got rather off it that night as well, and travelled back the next day. Incidentally, most people had left before us, so if the police had decided to turn up then they would have been faced with a scary looking bunch of about 200 people with dirty faced children and big smiles. So there is the whole story, cut down to the bare basics as much as possible (honestly!!!) And now you have inside information on - in the words of a certain bloke who was bladdered and repeating the same phrase again and again- THE BEST PARTY IN THE WORLD EVER!!!!!