PC 157 - Devon and Somerset
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July 19th AIR FUSION FESTIVAL
I'm still waiting for inspiration so I decided to go down to Newton Abbott in Devon to steward at another festival AIR FUSION FESTIVAL It was an interesting experience. Each festival seems to be quiet different from others. Wheras in New Mills thay set up on the Saturday morning. The Newton Abbot one was much more ambitious it was like a smaller Glastonbury they had been onsite for a week. Part of it was the council licence regulations even though the festival was free they had to have a special steel fence going round the area so that no-one could come on without being searched for alcohol. They had 2 large sturdy stages and 2 large dance marquees. Wheras many of the other festivals are community and ecologically based so the set up was adequate but amateur being organised by a music industry school the technical stuff was all very professional. It was disappointing there weren't many stalls or workshops, but it was more music based and the there was heaps of stuff for kids to do. I think all the local residents were well impressed. I hope they don't go bust they only got 4000 people there. Though I think it was a good enough event to have charged people a couple of quid to have come in. I'm a fussy person but I thought the African mask techno dancers were very good and the belly dancer and a band of local youths who played percussion on bits of junk (drainpipes, bins etc) called Junked Up Newt (I'll put a recording up when I get time) The stewarding work went well, not much trouble though what do expect (even though the police were walking around with video cameras). Even though the set up was quite elaborate we had most of the site cleared up by Tuesday night when we had a party (with all the confiscated alcohol)
While I was close I decided I should take a look at Dartmoor
| so I walked along a 200 year old granite quarry tramway and past lots of prehistoric burial mounds and even a ruined town. And some interesting prehistoric stone lines and circles near Princestown. I stayed at camping barns, but the only person each night. I visited Okehampton, Exeter, Tiverton and the quaint seaside village of Beer, before moving on to walk in Exmoor and then the Quantocks. The weather was excellent despite rain in other parts of the country it hardly rained all for 3 weeks in the South West.
Shamabala festival
| I was very interested in going to the nearby (Wellington) Shamabala festival it sounded very interesting from the brief intro on the internet.... techno music, limited to a few people lots of workshops and in aid of anti-violence charities. But I wasn't going to commit myself until I found out more details. But it turned out to be ever so mysterious no one could tell me what workshops they would be having etc. So I wasn't going to risk my money on something which would turn out to be disappointing ... it could end up being loads of well intentioned hippies who were too busy smoking dope to actually organise anything properly or a front for a drug dealing party. But mysterious though it was people on the underground must have known about it cos it was sold out anyway and I couldn't get a ticket.
Sidmouth Folk Festival
| So I spent a couple of days walking in the Blackdown Hills where I met someone who told me that the Sidmouth Folk Festival was reaaly fantastic. I hitched there (held up by the rain) And within 20 minutes had met the gang from Leamington Spa and Ant had got me a job as a steward with a free pass etc. For something not so well known it was incredible ..50,000 people taking over a seaside town for more than a week. They had loads of stages like 8-10 at a time, but the rain did come and I wasn't too much into the type of music and ceilh dancing. I thought fate might take me to some interesting places, but when I hitched my first lift was really long (straight to Sheffield) so I decided to go straight to see my parents. While I was there I thought I'd better type my study of Plato into the computer and onto the net
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