London meeting to plan Stonehenge solstice 7 day gathering

Submitted by Visiondanz on Friday, 22 November 2002 Page Views: 1296

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There is a meeting @ The Arts Organisation on Sat 23rd November 11am for anyone interested in being involved in the planning for a 7 day gathering/ close to Stonehenge during the summer solstice?

The authorities are in full support of this gathering, providing that we can meet the healt and safety requirements. If you are interested in being involved in this historic gathering please come on staturday at 11am - bring some food and drink to share.

There's an event after in the evening at The Arts Organisation

Please read the following STATEMENT OF INTENT

Date: Sat, 9 Nov 2002 00:16:39 -0000
From: "Andy Worthington"
Subject: statement of intent

Some ideas:

The proposed Stonehenge Solstice Celebration is not 'exactly what has been done in the past'. Nothing like this has been done before. And nor are we looking for 'funding from where ever it may rise'. I'd suggest that we're looking for funding from the unlikeliest sources, people that none of us may yet know who have also been carrying the prospect of a Stonehenge Solstice Celebration in their hearts for all these years. Get out there. Talk to people. Find out what the prospect of a 'free' festival, over the solstice period, near Stonehenge and centred on access to the temple on the crucial day, actually means to the wider world. I've been talking to WOMAD, I've been looking into established practitioners of alternative energy who may be willing to get involved. That's just this week. Join in.

Spread the word. By all means let's establish our individual objectives, but let's not forget that this is also the time to talk to everyone, and that it 's no longer the time to play endless philosophical ping-pong amongst ourselves.

I put together a short press release (see below) that's designed to appeal to landowners and that's supposed to sound like part of a business plan. It is. Without a site, there's no celebration. This must be achieved before anything else can take place. As soon as possible, we need a more expansive and poetic press release to encourage benefactors and participants, and we need to establish a committee to come together as one to organize this thing. This is bigger than all of us, and we need people of humility and boundless dedication to administer it.

Within this framework, there's room for everything we all aspire to and more. Are we not looking to be inclusive and not exclusive? Yes we can have live music (free not paid for, giving something back instead of always taking), yes we can have sound systems (all the people out there who've been waiting for this particular opportunity), there will be healing and meditation, all the beautiful, far-reaching, earth-healing visionary wonder we can muster up.

To conclude:

Let's not forget that this celebration, like 'Managed Open Access', is about a particular time and place - Stonehenge and the Summer Solstice. Midsummer celebrations, centred on the solstice, have a long and illustrious history. The Summer Solstice is the centrepiece of a solar, seasonal year that was of the utmost importance to the builders of Stonehenge, who raised their sarsen temple towards it nearly 4,500 years ago. We don't know what they did there, but we can infer that the celebrations focused on a solar, seasonal, endlessly repeating cycle that is in stark contrast to the modern world of linear time and the wanton exploitation of nature. Stonehenge takes us back in time to that place, and renews that promise every Midsummer.

And let's not forget that we're also reviving a celebration that has manifested itself in various forms at other times. Throughout recorded history, fire festivals and symbolic representations of the turning of the solar year, including burning wheels and cheese rolling, were widespread at the Summer Solstice, and there are records of Midsummer celebrations taking place at Stonehenge at various times from the 13th to the 19th centuries, long before the Druids turned up and long before the free festival. We are part of a bigger picture.

Cheers everyone,

Andy

The following is the proposed press release to accompany applications to landowners in an attempt to secure a site for the Stonehenge Solstice Celebration 2003:

The Stonehenge Solstice Celebration Co Ltd has been set up to administer a licensed, non-profit making, week-long celebration of life, love and unity over the Summer Solstice in 2003.

The celebration is designed to complement the existing 'Managed Open Access' at Stonehenge itself, which has been running successfully for three years. Proposals for a celebration, at some distance from Stonehenge itself, have been repeatedly encouraged at meetings this year by both the Police and English Heritage.

The celebration will be community-based and will operate to the highest possible ecological standards. We are looking at alternative energy sources, full recycling, and a minimal use of plastics on site. We will be inviting applications from a spectrum of high- quality food vendors and other stall-holders, as well as representatives of charities and other organizations committed to making the world a better place. To facilitate a spirit of social harmony and low environmental impact, the sale of alcohol will not be promoted on site.

This initial press release is intended to facilitate the search for a suitable venue for the celebration, so that the myriad groups interested in its manifestation can begin a major fund-raising operation.

Join the E groups @ http://www.infinitePossibility.org to join the discussion

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