scn9606.htm
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ROADS: - SOLSBURY HILL: action day when road opens June/July. 01225 448 556.
NEWBURY; Anyone with pics, video or any evidence about arrests or evictions please ring 01865 45544 to see if you can help.
A303/HENGE; The Chairman of the November Conference has sent his report to the DoT asking for 'swift and serious consideration... in the hope that Stonehenge may be appropriately restored to its landscape as soon as possible.' Castle FIN says No more Roads OR Tunnels, Let the Stones Be.
THE BENEFIT GIG in Glastonbury in March turned into a benefit for several causes, with Ozric Tentacles packing the place for a brilliant evening. £100 was raised for the Campaign, and the open meeting the next day decided it should be split three ways for the walk, this newsletter and extra publicity.
THE LAND IS OURS occupation of a derelict riverside site at Wandsworth is still happening. (end of May) This demonstration project to build a sustainable village with farms and community projects has now been handed on to people who hope to live there. Visit or contact them at: LandIsOurs EcoVillage, Pure Genius, Gargoyle Wharf, York Rd, Wandsworth Bridge, SW18 2PU. Landowners Guinness are trying to have them evicted. TLIO 01865 722 016.
But the court agreed that separate groups in an area, each less than the 20 needed for the law to apply, did not make one assembly. Anti-CJA campaigners arrested at the Stones on June 1st won an appeal in which the court confirmed our right to gather peacefully at a roadside if we were not obstructing it. So even if the Home Sec approves both orders, the bans cannot legally stop any individual going to the Stones and meeting others on the roadside. (although they can stop anyone on their way to a real 'trespassory assembly'.)
At the Spring Equinox, police ordered a startled National Trust to 'close' the field opposite the Stones, which is normally open to the public, and has been used for ceremonies since last summer. So they declared it closed - but did nothing when people used it anyway. This suggests police realise there is likely to be a gathering at the Solstice, and want to confine it to the road.
Things are slowly changing in Wiltshire. Local authorities are increasingly reluctant to throw money at the police year after year just to maintain a standoff, and the police are finding it increasingly difficult to justify their demands for draconian powers with vague fears about the problems of years ago. English Heritage helped them out with an excuse for this year with yet another fatuous claim of damage, the Chairman saying that the half-dozen people who climbed the Stones barefoot (before being asked to come down by the others) on VE Day had somehow tragically destabilised the whole monument and scraped lichen off with their boots. However Salisbury District Council said that this was the last time they would rubber-stamp an order, and wanted a review of the situation before the police ask them to approve another ban next year. We have heard this 'maybe next year' many times before, and it has always come to nothing. 3 years ago the County Council voted for 'discussions with all interested parties' to try and find a solution, but were quietly told behind the scenes where they could stuff their vote. This time it does seem a little different, with more local discussion and even the police publicly making guarded comments about 'welcoming' a review and 'law-abiding groups' being able to celebrate the Solstice 'eventually'.
The Council's decision may have been influenced by their recent experience of the downside to having a confrontational police force. The Salisbury Festival (a season of cultural events) wanted to include something for the young, and organised a small open-air concert with The Prodigy. Wilts police freaked out, claiming there would be people running amok with guns and they couldn't handle it. The local community couldn't understand why these events can take place regularly without fuss elsewhere but wouldn't work in Wiltshire. They were shocked by the rumours of the undemocratic means that were used to stop the event.
So attitudes seem to be shifting, but it is difficult to see how movement towards any compromise can take place at a time when the general situation is moving in the opposite direction, with free festivals being suppressed and even legal events under attack in some areas. (Although the much publicised refusal of a licence for the Tribal Gathering may have more to do with a private feud between police and organisers over Reading Fest policing costs.)
He has urged Wiltshire police, English Heritage and travellers' leaders to thrash out a "sensible solution" to cut costs to the taxpayer.
Cllr Rogers said policing Stonehenge, including enforcing the zone, had cost up to 4 million pounds since the violent clashes between travellers and police ten years ago.
"All I am trying to do is reduce the cost of this annual event to the public purse" he said.
"Unless we do something about it now we shall still be talking about it in 20 or 30 years' time. It is a bit like signing a blank cheque."
But Salisbury District Council management committee is to recommend the full council to support a police application for an exclusion zone and other public order laws to cover the solstice in June.
We walked 17 miles one day- all the adults were complaining but we ran ahead every time. There were ducks, storks, eggs, and 2 weird animals - by Danny and Merlin
Stonehenge Walk
In the merry month of June
the green trees were in full leaf
25 people did on the Stonehenge walk go
along the leafy banks of the Thames
through pastoral idylls
which we would not usually see
green sloping lawns, big old houses
wooden boathouses, paint peeling
and willows weeping
bongoing our message on the bridge at Windsor
-the town eerily silent and subdued-
-a warm welcome here from the riverside pub-
well-fed on tasty communal food
which a few people got together with no problem
every evening, people giving money or help,
then music and stories round the fire
all the way our tents and bags were on
the trusty canal boat
with three people to help us
if you sat still you could sit in the bows
and see all the moorhens and wildlife
Jumping off to get the boats through the locks
friendships forged for life
or a good few years yet
a chance to let your hair down
and get your body in shape
10 miles a day average
the children could do it, no sweat
at the end of one week
primed for the next week
big breakfasts in the cafe at the end of the road
For this year's walk, meet 1pm at Battersea Park
Peace Pagoda ( by the river, midpoint between
2 bridges) leaving 3pm, see you there. Julia.
P.S. Shannon says it's "Acts of Sense and Beauty".
Long to see ya In the sun Looking at the future But I'm in some mental institution Gods awaiting my freedom Stone free Goap, Ziatham and Amayon Our children of stone Will never grow old. Carson May '96
From cash to hash
stone to stone
& back again.
Willy X 1978
, ______ _________ _______ , , / Free \ / The \ / Stones \ , , \________/ \_________/ \_______ / , , ____ ___ ___ ____ , , / \ / \ / \ / \ , , | | | | o | ! ! ! , , | | | | m | ! ! ! ,
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