Party Vibe

@thelog 510830 wrote:

It’s a sad day for the free party movement. I can understand the forestry commision and fair enough the farmers fields may have been abused for parking etc (although there is more than enogh track for people to park on) But the cafe owners seriously??? they are close enough to hear the music but I doubt it would have caused any more noise than the bypass on a weekend (might I add the cafe is located on the roadside) Unless there is a new cafe that has been built inside the forest. Oh well.

the penalties are far more proportionate than what my mates got what was prison and confiscation of their rig. at first glance the compensation to the café owner does seem odd but either the ravers went in and robbed things from there, or bad parking and the amount of sketchy young drug users frightened away customers. To get the compensation the café owner would have had to produce reports showing a genuine loss of profits (like a X report from a till or EPOS terminal) which aren’t that easy to forge (as they are also used for the audited accounts).

it might make more sense to let smaller groups legally gather in the FC forests across the UK provided they do it safely and clear up (rather than thousands in areas more suited to hundreds). This appears to be done in some other European countries but thats not a unconditional chance to take the piss, they usually hold one or more people responsible for safety and costs and the authorities have their details. but even then these countries tend to find more suitable flatter places of land to hold raves on and their ravers are prepared to use them rather than trash the forest, which they’ve been taught to respect since kids. (also there are bears in some forests, they aren’t friendly if harrassed and its also illegal to disturb the bears).

@thelog 510842 wrote:

I remember when I first joined on here people were campaigning for designated areas to do our business but from what I remember it got denied OR everyone got stoned and couldn’t be bothered. XD

I would love it if there was designated areas but it’s a distant dream me thinks

it got as far as being suggested even by some organisations representing local councils and was supported by MP’s (even tories!) but the backlash from locals put a stop to it.

there is however more of a tradition of camping holidays in North Europe than mainland UK so people know how to enjoy the outdoors slightly better without trashing it.

I know personally a lot of eco-friendly types what work with Forestry and their views are that if the events were kept to appropriate areas, didn’t last 3 days and folk genuinely cleared up (bagging up 60% of the rubbish and leaving the bags for someone else to take away isn’t good enough, and shitting everywhere is inexcusable) they didn’t think the feds needed to bust them hard, but in many areas when it was tolerated people blatantly took the piss. also when these events happen there are often families camping nearby and it can keep them awake and frighten them. I’ve seen drug users “banter” with cyclists, randoms etc in a way which clearly could be viewed as threatening/territorial to a non drug user, even though they do not mean to be so..

@damo666 510903 wrote:

I went to this party it was good but not as good as the previous 2 years. IMO i think too many people knew about it this time round.

TBH we should be able to have one in EA and it needn’t be a environment disaster or a nuisance if done properly. Just 250km East from us small groups do the same. I was reading some sound equipment thread on partyflock (like a cross between PV and DSI but all in Dutch) and some lads were talking about earthing arrangements for a outdoor rig.

The words they were using hinted that the council or campsite management put random bits of metal into the ground at precisely for the purpose of service as earthing points for portable gensets. I was confused at first and thought I had mistranslated this, but did some extra research and found that the councils do just that, and smaller groups partying in a campsite are allowed provided they don’t piss of the rest of the folk there.

they can’t use mega stacks and everything must fit into 3 500 kg van max and not be overweight as there are traffic controls specially to check for this sort of thing, stuff like too many extra passengers/drug driving will also land folk in a lot of shit and someone has to guarantee payment of fines for any environment damage but they still manage to have a good party. you don’t really hear about them much because they don’t boast it like we do…

this would be safer and less impact and risk than people driving 200 miles every weekend for bigger raves when what happens in reality (i have seen it with my own eyes) is that people stay in camps from their region anyway and don’t interact half as much let alone respect the area because they aren’t locally connected to it.

Its a credit to the defence lawyers, the judge and changing attitudes in society that this lad did not go to prison. I hope his community service is something useful – nature groups always need volunteers to help with cleanup and species monitoring/identification.