Happy new year; Slammin’ FUCKING’ Vinyl! Happy New Year everyone! Hope it was a good one, and that you were all lucky enough not to go to the pile of crap that was Slammin' Vinyl 'New years eve festival'.
I'm not normally a bitter person, but I feel so let down by the Bastards at Slammin', that I’m gonna rant about how they managed to fuck up what should have been a wicked night.
Ok, so after 2 years of pretty much non-stop free-partying and after the disappointment of last NYE's party being busted before it happens. My mates and I decide to play it safe, return to our roots, and head off to Slammin' Vinyl for NYE. Now when I used to attend the 'legal' end of the rave scene, I seem to remember Slammin' being pretty phat, with a good reputation. Oh dear..... What happened?
After driving for almost 2 hours, we get to the sanctuary at about 9.30ish and join the massive queue; but that's ok, cause slammin' pulls in a crowd, so it's used to this, right!?
I spent 4 FUCKING hours in that BLOODY queue!!!!!!!! It was pissing with rain, and freezing cold. I felt so sorry for those girls who made an effort to dress up, only to be left standing in the cold with practically nothing on! At one point everyone rushed the fences, with a good few of my mates getting through. I stayed with the girls, so managed to get a good view of a bouncer laying into ravers with a 2 foot mag light, in an effort to get people back into the queue. I hope that WANKER felt real good about himself the next day!
Midnight came and went; a phone call from a friend inside informed me that the arenas were all only half full (everyone still being outside!) Eventually we got in through the 'ONE AND ONLY' single file gate. "Excuse me? Did I miss something? Were they not expecting the few thousand ravers that turned up? One gate takes the piss!" I spent most of the night with the distinct feeling that I was being herded like sheep.
"Its ok" I told everyone, “it’s still worth it!" Shit, am I embarrassed about saying that! What the fuck happened? With 200K of sound over 4 arenas, I should not have had to stand right in front of the speakers just to let the music have a decent impact! The Old Skool system was a joke (although they did have the decency to tell MC's to fuck off!) The D'n'B room was so full of attitude you could have cut the atmosphere with a knife! I'm sure Ecstasy is a love drug, so why was everyone so up for a fight? Have they started filling pills with coke now? Even the Hardcore room, which is always a personal favourite, did not make me want to stay for very long. There was no info telling me who was playing when, so I managed to miss Hype, Sy and the Ratpack (My 3 fav Dj's.) The, and I quote; "State of the art fairground" was one fairly pants ride, and the "heated chill-out marquee" was a tent, with some garden chairs! Maybe I’m taking less drugs now-a-days, but even the ravers themselves brought the term 'Zombie nation' to mind. I have never, ever had the feeling that I am pissing everyone off by dancing too hard before! Everyone seemed to be content to just gurn and sway! Fuck That!
After 4 hours we gave up and went home. We got to the local party just in time to see Assassin (The phattest D'n'B system in E. Anglia) packing up and going, because 'All of us D'n'B heads were at Slammin'! Eventually, at 1pm on New Years day, after 2 let-downs, almost 400 miles and a shit load of wasted money (£42 for that pap!), we ended up 30 miles from home in a barn, in the middle of no-where (Norfolk!), at Brains Kan, where we should have been all along.
Good old, reliable Brains Kan! Say what you like about it. Even at 2 in the afternoon, there was still 100+ people stomping like there's no tomorrow! Everyone was smiling, the Old Skool and Jungle was beautiful, much like the girls there! I completely fell in love with a girl with the most stunning smile I have ever seen, who made me tea! My heart belongs to her forever! My New year was finally saved! Thank you Brains Kan!
Sorry this has been a bit long! I had to get it off my chest. Maybe I’m wrong about Slammin' Vinyl, maybe some of you guys had a really good night, and think I’m just bitter about standing in the rain! What does anyone else think?
All I know is this; if that was the best the 'legal' scene has to offer, then they can go fuck themselves (with a rusty spoon!) It has become far too commercial; too shallow and stale; 'Herd 'em in, rinse their money, kick 'em out! I hope Mr Slammer is happy rolling around in all the piles of money he made; because he has sold out, and lost a lot of people in the process. And to my fellow party people; I have strayed, and I’m sorry, and it will never happen again. I'm sticking to my fields and my forests and the small back rooms of certain clubs I know. That's where the true party is.
Peace out.
TVP Report 05/01/04 Monday, 05 January 2004
Rave in Wokingham
Police were called at 3.40am on New Year’s Day after reports of a rave taking place in a disused warehouse off Molly Millars Lane, Wokingham.
Officers arrived to discover about 2,000 people at the venue. The premises were safe with no one in any obvious danger. Due to the sheer number of people involved and the fact that the warehouse was a distance away from residential areas, officers decided to continue to monitor the situation and its impact on the local community.
While a small number of complaints about the noise were received by police, the ongoing evaluation of the rave showed there was no danger to the safety of the public.
A 19-year-old man from Witney in Oxfordshire was arrested on suspicion of possession of drugs with intent to supply and has been bailed pending further inquiries. He is due to return to police on 18 February.
A 23-year-old man from Surrey received an instant caution for possession of cannabis and a second 23-year-old man was cautioned for public disorder offences.
The event closed down at around 8.20am on 2 January.
Around 19 police officers in total were involved in the event.
http://www.thamesvalley.police.uk/cnunews/tvpnews.asp?dismode=article&artid=7478
savernake forest Did n e 1 go to a freefestival during the summer in newbury savernake forest?? The soundsytems where storm, psycosis,sokaid and I think tunnel crew where there also.
I thought this was an exelent party one of the best i've been to actually.
Wen we pulled up the police kindley told us that they where going to tow our car away if we didn't remove it before 7am and questiond us on why we where goin to a "pance" party (little do they no!!) this was quite amusing as there was about 2 miles of cars parked along the road and there was really nothing they could do about it!!
The scenery of this forest was mind blowing (maybe it was that acid) and the music was fantastic!! and of coarse it had the good vibe of peace and harmony!!!! wot more can u ask for fukin exellent weekend!! :D
Big Up 2 Storm sound system& the west country party massive! Lucky Ravers have had an exceptionally good outdoor season this last summer.
Fantastic weather and many beautiful first choice sites all around the UK, more of a diversity of music, hundreds of sound systems active and the all the general niceties that the summer time brings.
However, Squat party season is upon us one again.
Jaded by the general lack of nice public parties in London,
We headed due west outta town.
We were on a quest for a phat rave, meetin some new people and checkin out how way out west squat parties are doing.
We were VERY pleasantly surprised.
Firstly HAPPY 4th BIRTHDAY to Storm Sound System!
What an epic birthday rave that was last weekend, 8th Nov in Basingstoke.
I was well chuffed to find 7 rigs in a beautifully clean warehouse complex, which was still so clean on Sunday afternoon, we could have all eaten our dinner off the floor! Even after at least 1000 people had raved it!
Refreshing to see that the youth outta town ain't so intent on destruction as they are at some London parties.
Talkin of da youth... that is clearly where all the next generation of ravers are havin it large style, as it sure as hell ain't happenin to that extent in London.
Lots more young up for it ravers who clearly contribute to thier scene, not as many old haggard junkies and nutcases as at London parties, nice.
What I was most impressed by was the fluffy old school vibes and wicked atmosphere in Basingstoke.
NO CRACK!
NO RUDE BOYS !
NO BAD ATTITUDES!
HURRAY!!!!!!!
What more could you ask for???!!!!!!
(except for an international K drought! - wishful thinking.....)
People actually stand aside for you on the stairs, to let you through and all the lads are very sweet and open doors for you.
I loved the fact that Storm has a proper Techno mosh pit! which kept on fully rockin till Sunday night!
I'm a break beat / dnb head, but that mosh has such a wikid vibe, I was ravin in it all night!
So, Big Big Big Ups to all Tunnel Crew, Storm and 9Bar sound systems.
You lot showed me a great time and a truly phat rave and made me realise after 7 years of going to squat and outdoor parites, UK wide, I can still find a rave that has the same great vibes as the old school fluffy London parties of way back.
Phew!
Shame really nice parties don't really happen in London that often any more as the London squat scene struggles though lots of negativity.
But it's Brilliant to see phat crews and rigs doin it like it should be done.
Big Smoke, take note, we wouldn't want our rep as the party capital of the world to slide out of town, into the west country
But, if that's what it takes......
Anyway....
Big Up to all da good Random ravers, da Sonic crew, Ruckus boys, Mayhem ladies, Tribe of Munt, Negusa Negast, Hedfuk massive, Random Artists, Speakeasy, Kingbeat, Iffe, Panik, Manik, Malfaiteurs, Scallywags, Prank, Crossbones, Dekked, Diversion, Stinky Pink, Stonker, Audiophile, Hekate and all the tru hardcore London ravin Crew, coz u all deserve a phat big up for keepin it true even in tuff times .
Once again nice1way out west crew, full respect for a phat up rave! Storm, 9Bar, Sokaid, Massika, Phantom, Tunnel Crew and all da rest....
I fully recommend all you other well behaved random ravers go straight to the next big west side party and have a lovely fluffy time too, you will not regret.
www.guilfin.net
has all rig nos in the free parties section
ENJOY!!!!
Random Raver :o)
Anyone go to Bio-Tech / BrainSkan? hi, been to both of these before. both excellent parties. did anyone go to the biotech near lowestoft last weekend, in a huge quarry, it was biotech and the environmentalists. just wondered if anyone here goes to these, or if someone could give me the number for brainskan (cos i lost it), or any other good parties in the east anglia area.
will
views about hardline approach by surrey police? surrey police sent seven police vans to shut down a 21st birthday (that was held with the agreement of the land-owner), at a time when mr o'conner (head of surrey police) is complaining about the lack of funds available to surrey police. a number of other parties have been shut down recently, as part of a new hardline approach to free partys. do you have any views you would like to share with him on this?
Mr D O’Conner
Surrey Police HQ,
Mountbrown,
Sandy lane,
Guildford,
GU3 1HG
you can also write to request a copy of the video made by police at the event, if you were in attendance.
Watch out East Anglia I read this in our Regional Daily. Whilst it contains praise for the Brains Kan rig it shows the determination of Babylon to try and stop us from enjoying our freedom and our earth.
Police will get tougher with illegal raves
JAMES GOFFIN, JONATHAN REDHEAD
August 26, 2003 22:23
Norfolk police are to launch a get-tough policy to deal with illegal raves, it emerged today
The move follows a three-day rave at Warham saltmarsh, near Wells, over the Bank Holiday weekend, where more than 1000 people gathered for an impromptu festival – sparking fears among conservationists for the site's internationally recognised ecology.
Rave-goers finally quit the site this evening. But, despite police praising their “good-natured” behaviour, the force has pledged to increase efforts to stop repeat events. And police have also revealed that they may still prosecute organisers of the Warham rave.
Speaking at today's Norfolk Police Authority meeting, Deputy Chief Constable Colin Port said the way to stop the raves was better use of intelligence.
“It is extremely difficult to control the raves,” he said. “We will try to gather more and more intelligence so we know before the events take place and we can try to prevent them.
“What we have to do is get better at intelligence gathering and that way we can have more impact.
“We have looked at intelligence to see how to do it better.”
Assistant Chief Constable Simon Taylor, who was involved in the operation surrounding the rave, said revellers had behaved themselves – but may not get off scott free.
“This weekend they were good-natured,” Mr Taylor said. “There was no damage reported to the scientific area. There was always a degree of compromise and no significant events of drug-taking took place.”
Mr Taylor said that officers arrived to find more than 200 cars already on site.
“We took the operational decision to maintain the situation with five or six officers,” he said. “There's always a fine balance between resources and what to do with them.”
Mr Taylor said police were still deciding whether to take action against the rave organisers, who refused to move from the nature reserve to a nearby stubble field.
English Nature reserve manager Ron Harold said, to his relief, the party-goers had caused little damage.
“There has been no lasting effect on the saltmarsh area, and although I do not condone what they did, to their credit they have done a good job of tidying up after themselves,” he said.
“The damage could have been very serious, particularly if a fire had started.”
Norfolk Police Authority today gave their backing to the creation of the Eastern Region Intelligence Unit in Royston, Hertfordshire.
The scheme will involve the six counties in the east of England, and could bring together the Regional Intelligence Team and Regional National Crime Intelligence Service.[/QOUTE]
This all reads very nice doesn't it, but the fact remains they (Babylon) are trying their damnest to close all of us down one way or another. Up until now Norfolk have been fairly tolerant of us partiers but now because this party appeared on TV they have hardened their attitude towards us because they were asked a few questions that looked to embarass them!
I was at this Party and I can personally say that it was the best party that I have been to, and my intention is to continue to go to them. To anyone from the Brains Kan crew who may be reading this. THANK YOU for putting it together, and thank you to everyone who attended for the energy that you put in. It would not have been what it was with out you![/quote]
phew what a scorcher! Was anyone out at the weekend? We went to a shed warming house party on saturday night after sitting in various pub gardens all day. I wish I hadn't smoked some many cigarettes though!
Uk Tek 2003 Thousands attend illegal rave - a tale of 2 teks... this being the UKtek...
We dint kno wottek were we at then but as long as it was atek :) Dunno about thousands attending either... few hundreds maybe.
We arrived on site early saturday morning having driven thru the night... The decision was made to leave at about 10/11pm cuz we were worried about roadblocks... after packing and meeting up we left at about 1am and visited various petrol stations then we had to wait a bit more to fix one of the
convoy's accelerator pedal . Official brighton depart 3am... arrived in safeway carpark down the road from the site 9am-ish...
Word was that the farm had been squatted for 13 years or summat and that it had just been sold to barclays bank as squatters rights dont apply to agricultural land? Anyone confirm this and or get a different story?
What does fucking barclays want with the land anyway?? can a bank go out and buy up land? i suppose they;re the only sort that can afford it these days.
We stayed on site ina lovely apple orchard where the travellers were camped, which was scary at first but everyone was cool (except the kidz who pulled out all the tent pegs (twice) ;)
We were wondering if we were at the "rightek" for the whole of saturday... Thought it might be like a private traveller party or summat! we were definitely outsiders but not at all ignored or anything, people would pop up and chat as any camp / festie / tek / gathering style would be, swapped stories and or
info... Sometimes sharing some food, drink other times buying 'rugZ :D we phoned some numbers numbers during the day but the partylines were not open till later.
When we got through on the phonelines it seemed that other ppl were being directed to where we were.. this coupled with the fact that a dirty great digger was parked over the entrance to the camp site we decided to stay.
It dint seem that by 10pm or whenever it started to get dark on saturday that not many more rigs were going to turn up, although there were a fair few - it was good / went all mad max by sunday :)) we didn't know if the other site planned or a random act... we wanted to go and check it out.. but there were
enough ppl there to create a thriving tek community... some food stalls arrived, in fact i dunno how so many more rigs etc seemed to arrive on sunday maybe, maybe i'm not remembering everything exactly (although i hadda stay a bit sober on sunday lunch onwards cuz of the drive home!) what i do remember was being a bit worried about using my camera (as normal) which is annoying now in retrospect cuz it was fine and now there are no pictures of the punk band stage or any of the smaller rigs that lined that field... sorry.
1 tek would have been amazing tho 2 would be more difficult to control for the po-lice at the end of the day... the roadblocks and overtime musta also been a bit expensive. it seems that there were 2 teks b'cuz some rigs were wary of going onto the travellers site and were not aware that they had been invited, by the time rigs had set up in either location and found out about the other they dint want to pack down again and move - and i dont blame em! i wunder who'll leave firstthe travellers or the p1Gz.. the former will probably stay till they r evicted i think. as for Christine Rosearsh... (a local who lives nearby whining to the bbc) erm, she must sleep like one of the ancient dead for 362 daze of the year ffs... IF there were 3000 ppl having fun there, whorl true to the western worlds definition of "humanitarianism"... its collateral damage init :)
The police came on site 2 or 3 times... the traveller kids made a direct route for them when they arrived.. like *yay* lets go play with the police. the 3rd time they were followed round the site by a crowd which grew and grew... helicopter came out about about 4/5 times turning tricks and loop the loops... entertaining but a waste of money.......... the bbc reports are true that ppl were hurling bottles and stones at them but tbh they were never a danger they po-lice were far far away from where these missiles landed...
In the campsite a couple of the smaller tents got rolled for their contents... look, i'm sorry, bad stuff sometimes happens - trick is to minimalise the damage: YOU ARE ASKING FOR TROUBLE IF YOU LEAVE IMPORTANT KEYS, PHONES AND/OR WALLETS IN AN EMPTY TENT!
PLUR
matthecat
Queen’s Day 2003 After Party – Q2 2003 Queen's Day After Party, Amsterdam, Holland - Spring 2003
Published by Zirk*
We started this free gig around 22:00. The public had a heavy Koniginnedag (Queensday) with a big big party under the bridge. Some of them should be drunk and very tired. We had no idea what to expect. Every item was there, only the record players were not there and we ordered Taxi Anders to get the players ASAP. In the mean time Tommy let us listen to very interesting and beautiful ambient sounds. The players arrived at 23:00 so from that moment Tommy started to play some more groovy tunes.
There was no single incident whatsoever and the crowd was really friendly and open. The vibe was top! Fluofairy had a small party tent in the tunnel and Laurent displayed there is fluo art together with a little smart shop. Tina (from@tobee) came with a "bakfiets" bike and was making caiprihina / ice drinks. Our bar was selling cold and warm beer , juices, mixes, Thai red bull and gave water for free.
Satyr followed and made with a Techno/trance set our mood in the right direction. Steven HC, loaded with Brazilian unreleased sounds had the honour to let the people jump around at grow in amount from approx. 500 to 800. Then suddenly at 3 AM there were three police men at the property. Zirk saw them just a second earlier then they saw him and blinded them with the flashlight. They angry ordered to stop the sound in 15 min. and let every body out quietly.
They waited outside in their car and when they saw about 50 people leaving, they left as well. We decided to ask the crowd to move quickly their bikes from the street into the tunnel. This way it would look empty to the police when they check again. Now we started up the music on the old volume. Cyber chick (Lorance) followed with pure psytrance and gave a lot of people joy with kick ass tracks, although mixing was difficult since one record player was broken.
The whole night we had a very strict policy for the area behind the dj booth, because our last tunnel party somebody stole our small change money. this time even Dj's were kindly ask not to stay in the back, so even their luggage and records were safely kept with us.
At six the police made a short phone call about still hearing music. they gave an official warning and said that the next violation would end in confiscation of sound equipment. Nevertheless we decided to continue, the sound equipment is not that important to us. Stella Nutella was basically delayed because of missing / stolen luggage during her trip from Brazil, and Riches took the decks over for so long. With him we are always guaranteed for the right , appropriate type of music for the time of the day. He slowly brought the bpm down to a more morning trance rhythm.
Stella arrived at 7 AM and wanted to start quickly, there were still about 500 people and it seemed they wanted more beats! Quickly the depression lightened up at Stella her face from the tracks she played and that happy feeling seemed to be beamed right to the public; the place was jumping from the nice and happy tunes in the tunnel. at 7:30 a lot of tunnel engineers, constructors and work men suddenly came to take a look and we gave them a VIP treatment. even the owner of the genie-lift gave us another four hours to use it as a DJ booth and would go on their paper work.
At 9 AM suddenly there were policemen and they stopped the music on a rude way. After some talks they let us clean the place in our own tempo, no confiscating took place the police were friendly to us in the end. So were the constructors. The next day they helped us with removing the mobile toilet with their shovel and placing it back exactly on the place where we found it....
Dutchtek 2002 – September 2002 Dutchtek 2002 party report
Dutchtek was wicked this year... Although it was predictably a lot smaller then last year (this year only about 3 foreign systems made it, last year you couldn't count the walls) but it was nice though. It was near the German border in a small nature conservation but the field which has been chosen had nothing special, just weed. It had trees surrounding it and you couldn't hear any music in the places nearby. Unfortunately our truck (a huge rented one) loaded with the speakers of 3 systems got nicked before the teknival had begun. It got stuck with one wheel in a ditch making it an easy target for the "fastly got together" riot squad who was thinking they had the "organisation" of the party when they were holding the truck. A pity for them that all the other systems were able to drive on the field behind their backs and they start building up their systems right away. While the police still was holding the truck the first sounds starting pumping on the field. Saturday during they day the police started spreading almost the same flyers as they did in Moerdijk in 2001, pointing us on the fact that we are attending at an "illegal houseparty" and basically that we had leave immediately...
Of course, no-one did, but we were afraid that the same would happen as last year (Last year a lot of systems were nicked and it was a bitch to get em back .. it took about a month!). They police threatened to clear the area but we didn't see many coppers around so no-one stopped and when the hours pass we realized we would have a Saturday night this year. It became darker and darker and we had a really wicked night with sounds pumping all over the place, beautiful lights, happy people and that in a nice nature environment. It was really cool. In the morning we have this feeling "they can't take this from us anymore" but slowly it became clear that the police was setting up something and yes, riot squad officiers were all over the place. Why? No-one knew, there had been no incidents and no complaints (maybe only from people who were bothered by all the party freaks parking their cars in the neighborhood because the police had closed some of the gates (you could enter the party through the forest anyway).
At about 11:00 the teknival stopped and everybody started to pack. A line of riot squad forced us to get the hell out. We didn't start a riot or whatever but calmly we moved out. Like always, no aggression. Unfortunately they decided to steal our equipment again, and every car was searched while getting out of the area. Speakers, amplifiers, trucks everything was taken. Goddamn!! Not like last year nooooo! Gladly it became clear that the police didn't have any legal ground to hold our stuff and I guess they just want to get rid of everything so everybody was allowed to get his rigs and everything back. Quite a happy end compared to last year. This year there also was a lot of media attention. I guess there was no other news because it was on the front-page of almost every newspaper and in the news of national TV stations. The whole Netherlands did hear of those strange, international, illegal events now, but still no-one knows really knows much more than that they're called "illegal house parties". One time a year the Dutch (and Europe) underground steps into the light and that's it.
Too bad our new right winged cabinet is starting to ask questions already and wants to create measures to prevent this from happening again. Well I think they already did take those measures while taking our rigs again and blowing it up in the press. All together you start thinking "is it worth it" and I think it's not. But we'll see next year if we're doing another Dutchtek (and maybe this time organised different).
Greetz, Henry
Mutant Dance party bust report – July 2002 Mutant Dance party report
By penelope pitstop - Monday July 20 2002
Excellent party, shame about the performance from the police. A totally brutal and un-called for attack on party people.
We were treated like hooligans and unnecessary violence was applied by the police. To much to their disappointment many people did not retaliate against them with violence therefore they had to try and taunt us to respond.
I myself was hit in the face with an officers shield whilst trying to help a friend up from the floor who had been bashed down by a male officer, as she tried to pick up her bag from the floor the officer repeatedly forced his shield into her. I have bruising to my nose and elbow from trying to get away from him.
I have responded to the Bristol Evening Posts article inour defense and hopefully they will not distort my story in anyway. They are VERY interested in our point of view and our feelings on the subject.
Should anyone else who was injured or would like to add their point of view please contact the Bristol Evening Post.
Penelope PitStop
Midsummer moot on the Ridgeway – July 2002 Midsummer moot on the ridgeway
by Sleeze*
What a wicked moot that was. Thanks to everyone who came!
So many rigs along the ancient track leading to the tunnel and what a fucking good vibe all around, no aggro or dick heads anywhere. Special thanks to those Kaotik Druids for keeping the rain away and for getting the sun to show itself occasionally.
Another close encounter of the filthy kind yesterday afternoon, most of the rigs had gone and of those left we were the only one still playing when suddenly about 50 piggies oinked their way up to the track and gave us 1/2 an hour to fuck off. Rig got packed away in record time and we got off unmolested.
Sadly there was quite a bit a rubbish left behind, many rigs and people only started clearing up when the music stopped, rather than continuous cleaning and with the rapid departure put on us by the pigs, once again it meant that proper cleaning couldn't take place. As we were at the far end, as we drove out we picked up everyone's rubbish bags that had been left behind, about 15 in all and all the beer cans and crap that had been missed. It was truly an honor to be able to pick up the rubbish left around those fine rigs, something we'd happily do forever, but would be nice if we didn't have to, know what I mean?
The farmer was a bit irked as he had laid one side of the track to seed, though I pointed out that all the rigs and ravers tried to keep of that bit of track and that the off roaders and bikers were the ones fucking that up. The farmer and pig doubted that was the case, just then 4 bikes came screeching up from the tunnel and shot off down the seeded bit of track... ha ha ha suckers.
Hope everyone got home safely, see you soon,
XXX
Norwich party closes after negotiations with police – February 2002 Norwich Party Closes After Negotiations With The Police
courtesy of Derek Williams
Total respect to the Norwich crew for what happened on Saturday night!
It's a long story, which I don't know all of, but basically things were all set for a multi rig bash at an establi-shed site, but that afternoon the land owner turned up with some "mates" and "asked" them not to do the party. Think large people willing to do damage.
So the party was called off.
Now, just about everyone knew the party was planned - everyone I'd talked to last week knew about it. So an alternative venue was found - right in the middle of town. It was never going to be allowed by the plod, it didn't stand a chance.
So we got there around midnight, an old car showroom with music pounding out, just as the plod arrived. We had a short chat to Nigel (one of the travelers from the first site) outside and then tried to go in, but the police by this time had started containment and were blocking the entrance. All four of them. So the four of us stand there looking at the four of them and I realise the plod I'm starting at is scared, like really frightened. As we stand there of course, others are joining the queue. One of our number wants to go to a local shop anyway, so we back down, I smile at the plod who blurts out some kind of "thanks for the co-operation" and we go to the shop as a flood of people turn up to join the queue.
A short trip to the shop and we come back, two plod vans now but no containment, music still pumping so we go in.
As the party continues, plod come in with some of the organisers, they have a poke around with a fire offi-cer and go out again. A bit later I wonder out to see what's going down and over hear an amazing conver-sation between plod, fire officer and squatters. "Well organised event..." "responsible behaviour" "reasonable attitude" and from the squatters "these things are going to happen, better we do them..." then the plod left. The party shut down at three, or the music did anyway. We stayed for another half hour or so and people were sitting around toking and playing drums, there was no eviction, the shut down was agreed (3 is when the clubs shut). There were no plod to be seen as we left.
Derek
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