FREE STATE - review
Palden Jenkins, April 2014. (Published in the 'Glastonbury Oracle')
Free State - Glastonbury’s alternative community 1970 to 2000 and beyond is a book I never thought would be written. I could not have done it, even though I was as involved in Glastonbury matters as much as the author. Bruce Garrard has written a remarkably objective and comprehensive overview of the history of Glastonbury's alternative community.
It tells the story of a kaleidoscopic, creative and anarchic subcultural phase of Britain's history, arising out of Flower Power in the 1960s and gradually becoming the core raison d'etre of a former market town in Somerset with a peculiar history. Rooted in legends of prehistoric greatness, Arthurian significance and medieval ecclesiastical grandeur, Glastonbury has in modern times seen a century of history involving dissident metaphysical people and activities and alternative lifestyles. The period from the late Victorian era to the 1960s was ably chronicled by Patrick Benham in The Avalonians (Gothic Image of Glastonbury, 1993) and Bruce's book chronicles the flowering of the post-60s period, up to the Millennium.
Separating out the strands of all that went on in Glastonbury, particularly during its florescence in the 1980s, has been admirably done. It is impossible to mention everything that happened during these three decades, or every person involved, but Bruce has included a fair description and assessment of every major strand in this complex and colourful period in this rather magical small town.
The book will be of interest not only to those who know and love Glastonbury, but also to people interested in the dissenting alternative subculture that lived around the edges of an otherwise highly materialistic period of Britain's recent history. It's a story of people who didn't wear suits, didn't subscribe to metropolitan beliefs, didn't seek success and financial security and were certainly not conventional in their ways. They paid a price too, gave a lot to the world and reaped many benefits, more in terms of 'content of character' than material payoffs.
It is a chronicle of possibilities, some of which manifested in concrete form (such as the famous Glastonbury Festivals), some of which are yet to be realised (because the capitalism of Britain and the West has not yet allowed it) and some of which were pipedreams. It's also an informal sociological study of a subcultural movement of which the musician Brian Eno once said, "I feel I have been part of something much greater than it has actually been".
This book is likely to become an authoritative source for people later in this century who seek to uncover how many things of their time began. It's a tale of largely-forgotten giants on whose shoulders many future developments will stand, and it's a recounting of what happened in a small, globally-significant Somerset town during a period when most people were busy looking the other way, chasing their own pipedreams.
It's something of a masterpiece and, though I must confess to being mentioned in the book and to having edited it too, I do recommend you to read it because it ably describes a chunk of history that more people could have participated in than actually did. This is perhaps a saga of what they missed.
Palden Jenkins, April 2014. (Published in the 'Glastonbury Oracle')
Free State - Glastonbury’s alternative community 1970 to 2000 and beyond is a book I never thought would be written. I could not have done it, even though I was as involved in Glastonbury matters as much as the author. Bruce Garrard has written a remarkably objective and comprehensive overview of the history of Glastonbury's alternative community.
It tells the story of a kaleidoscopic, creative and anarchic subcultural phase of Britain's history, arising out of Flower Power in the 1960s and gradually becoming the core raison d'etre of a former market town in Somerset with a peculiar history. Rooted in legends of prehistoric greatness, Arthurian significance and medieval ecclesiastical grandeur, Glastonbury has in modern times seen a century of history involving dissident metaphysical people and activities and alternative lifestyles. The period from the late Victorian era to the 1960s was ably chronicled by Patrick Benham in The Avalonians (Gothic Image of Glastonbury, 1993) and Bruce's book chronicles the flowering of the post-60s period, up to the Millennium.
Separating out the strands of all that went on in Glastonbury, particularly during its florescence in the 1980s, has been admirably done. It is impossible to mention everything that happened during these three decades, or every person involved, but Bruce has included a fair description and assessment of every major strand in this complex and colourful period in this rather magical small town.
The book will be of interest not only to those who know and love Glastonbury, but also to people interested in the dissenting alternative subculture that lived around the edges of an otherwise highly materialistic period of Britain's recent history. It's a story of people who didn't wear suits, didn't subscribe to metropolitan beliefs, didn't seek success and financial security and were certainly not conventional in their ways. They paid a price too, gave a lot to the world and reaped many benefits, more in terms of 'content of character' than material payoffs.
It is a chronicle of possibilities, some of which manifested in concrete form (such as the famous Glastonbury Festivals), some of which are yet to be realised (because the capitalism of Britain and the West has not yet allowed it) and some of which were pipedreams. It's also an informal sociological study of a subcultural movement of which the musician Brian Eno once said, "I feel I have been part of something much greater than it has actually been".
This book is likely to become an authoritative source for people later in this century who seek to uncover how many things of their time began. It's a tale of largely-forgotten giants on whose shoulders many future developments will stand, and it's a recounting of what happened in a small, globally-significant Somerset town during a period when most people were busy looking the other way, chasing their own pipedreams.
It's something of a masterpiece and, though I must confess to being mentioned in the book and to having edited it too, I do recommend you to read it because it ably describes a chunk of history that more people could have participated in than actually did. This is perhaps a saga of what they missed.
REVIEW FROM THE CENTRAL SOMERSET GAZETTE
Laura Linham, Central Somerset Gazette 27 November 2014.
Laura Linham, Central Somerset Gazette 27 November 2014.
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How 'hippies' heralded a weird, wonderful era
The story of Glastonbury's alternative community has been charted in a book by Bruce Garrard.
Free State looks at the arrival of the first 'flower people' in the town, and how they changed the landscape of the small Somerset market town.
In his introduction, Mr Garrard writes: "The idea for the book originally came from Gareth Mills at The Speaking Tree - who suggested I write a history of alternative Glastonbury from the early 1970s to the present day - a sequel to Patrick Benham's book The Avalonians."
After years of hostility from locals, Mr Garrard sees the Millennium as the cut off point for his book - a time when he saw the attitudes towards the 'alternatives' in the town beginning to change, after they arranged for the Tor to be lit with flares.
"The 'alternatives' had done a magnificent job, on behalf of the whole town," he writes. "Something subtly changed after that."
The book notes how the first reference to a 'new style' of visitor appeared in the pages of the Central Somerset Gazette in 1967, when we reported two 'flower people' being arrested for possession of drugs.
Before long, articles and stories about ley lines and extraterrestrial beings were being published by magazines like Gandalf's Garden, who in the spring of that year published several articles about Glastonbury, including ones by Geoffrey Ashe and antiquarian John Michell.
By 1970, the first 'alternative' cafe - The Temple of the Stars - had opened, and a farmer called Michael Eavis came up with the idea for a festival.
By the mid-1970s, alternative Glastonbury had crept into the High Street, with Pat Li Shun setting up shop selling clothes, cards and 'unusual' gifts.
Next up was Gothic Image, which until the mid-1980s was 'practically alone' as a High Street landmark for new age visitors to the town.
The owners were hauled up before the Chamber of Commerce and accused of bringing hippies into the town, while more mainstream businesses put signs on their doors saying 'no hippies.'
Tucked away in a High Street courtyard, the Glastonbury Experience opened in 1978, quickly filling up with 'alternative' shops and cafes, and by the early 1980s the Goddess-worshippers began to arrive.
As more traditional shops closed down, new, alternative businesses moved in.
But it wasn't just the town centre that was seeing changes - by 1985, a hippy convoy had rolled into Greenlands Farm and tensions were reaching boiling point.
The orchard at the form filled up with travellers, with ivic leaders demanding the farm be cleared by riot police and townsfolk wanting the hippies 'run out of town.'
That same year, The Declaration of the Free State of Avalonia was issued, along with its own newspaper, the Times of Avalonia, a satirical retort and act of 'guerilla journalism' in response to the coverage the community were getting in the local press.
By 1988 the tow was establishing itself as a centre for spiritual learning with the creation of the Library of Avalon, and by 1990 whole food and organic shops were beginning to pop up in the High Street.
The new decade saw the town centre shaping itself into a 'new age mecca,' with crystal shops and ethical clothing shops joining those already in the High Street and, in 1996, studies showed that more than 40 per cent of visitors coming to the town were here for the alternative attractions.
And by the turn of the century, an uneasy peace had broken out between the traditional Glastonians and the 'alternatives.'
"In 1982, there was an estimate that 10 per cent of the population of Glastonbury was alternative," writes Garrard.
"The total number of laternative-style shops in the High Street [now], and the size of the new wholefood shop compared to the co-operatively run venture of the early 1980s, would both tell roughly the same story.
"Glastonbury's alternative population is now almost certainly larger than that of the remaining traditional Glastonians."
* The Free State by Bruce Garrard, now in its second edition, is available from all good bookshops in the town, costing £12.95. It also includes a potted history of Glastonbury Festival, the Children's World festivals, the battle to save the Assembly Rooms, and the camps that set up around the town, among other topics.
The story of Glastonbury's alternative community has been charted in a book by Bruce Garrard.
Free State looks at the arrival of the first 'flower people' in the town, and how they changed the landscape of the small Somerset market town.
In his introduction, Mr Garrard writes: "The idea for the book originally came from Gareth Mills at The Speaking Tree - who suggested I write a history of alternative Glastonbury from the early 1970s to the present day - a sequel to Patrick Benham's book The Avalonians."
After years of hostility from locals, Mr Garrard sees the Millennium as the cut off point for his book - a time when he saw the attitudes towards the 'alternatives' in the town beginning to change, after they arranged for the Tor to be lit with flares.
"The 'alternatives' had done a magnificent job, on behalf of the whole town," he writes. "Something subtly changed after that."
The book notes how the first reference to a 'new style' of visitor appeared in the pages of the Central Somerset Gazette in 1967, when we reported two 'flower people' being arrested for possession of drugs.
Before long, articles and stories about ley lines and extraterrestrial beings were being published by magazines like Gandalf's Garden, who in the spring of that year published several articles about Glastonbury, including ones by Geoffrey Ashe and antiquarian John Michell.
By 1970, the first 'alternative' cafe - The Temple of the Stars - had opened, and a farmer called Michael Eavis came up with the idea for a festival.
By the mid-1970s, alternative Glastonbury had crept into the High Street, with Pat Li Shun setting up shop selling clothes, cards and 'unusual' gifts.
Next up was Gothic Image, which until the mid-1980s was 'practically alone' as a High Street landmark for new age visitors to the town.
The owners were hauled up before the Chamber of Commerce and accused of bringing hippies into the town, while more mainstream businesses put signs on their doors saying 'no hippies.'
Tucked away in a High Street courtyard, the Glastonbury Experience opened in 1978, quickly filling up with 'alternative' shops and cafes, and by the early 1980s the Goddess-worshippers began to arrive.
As more traditional shops closed down, new, alternative businesses moved in.
But it wasn't just the town centre that was seeing changes - by 1985, a hippy convoy had rolled into Greenlands Farm and tensions were reaching boiling point.
The orchard at the form filled up with travellers, with ivic leaders demanding the farm be cleared by riot police and townsfolk wanting the hippies 'run out of town.'
That same year, The Declaration of the Free State of Avalonia was issued, along with its own newspaper, the Times of Avalonia, a satirical retort and act of 'guerilla journalism' in response to the coverage the community were getting in the local press.
By 1988 the tow was establishing itself as a centre for spiritual learning with the creation of the Library of Avalon, and by 1990 whole food and organic shops were beginning to pop up in the High Street.
The new decade saw the town centre shaping itself into a 'new age mecca,' with crystal shops and ethical clothing shops joining those already in the High Street and, in 1996, studies showed that more than 40 per cent of visitors coming to the town were here for the alternative attractions.
And by the turn of the century, an uneasy peace had broken out between the traditional Glastonians and the 'alternatives.'
"In 1982, there was an estimate that 10 per cent of the population of Glastonbury was alternative," writes Garrard.
"The total number of laternative-style shops in the High Street [now], and the size of the new wholefood shop compared to the co-operatively run venture of the early 1980s, would both tell roughly the same story.
"Glastonbury's alternative population is now almost certainly larger than that of the remaining traditional Glastonians."
* The Free State by Bruce Garrard, now in its second edition, is available from all good bookshops in the town, costing £12.95. It also includes a potted history of Glastonbury Festival, the Children's World festivals, the battle to save the Assembly Rooms, and the camps that set up around the town, among other topics.
