Blast

This summer also coincidently marks the 40th anniversary of the legendary Woodstock Festival. To celebrate I'm off to Bardney for The Great Western Festival to see Genesis, Status Quo, even my favourite group Roxy Music!

Well I would be if I weren't thirty six years too late. Sadly it's unlikely that we'll ever see anything like the now infamous 1972 May Bank Holiday event again in the county. A combination of staunch local opposition, the poor weather and the end of all things peace and love conspired to end the pop festival phenomenon as it was for around the next thirty years.

Who was there?

Across this May Bank Holiday of 1972 an estimated 50'000 people descended on the Tupholme Manor Park, Bardney for this festival.

The stage at the Bardney Festival

The event's bill reads as a virtual who's who of the day including the likes of Rod Stewart, Joe Cocker, Genesis, The Beach Boys and Roxy Music. Even the Monty Python stars and the late Radio 1 DJ John Peel made an appearance at the event.

An event that almost didn't happen

The festival was not without its detractors though. Despite successfully running a similar folk orientated event featuring The Byrds and James Taylor the year prior, Lindsey County Council, landowners and village residents raised staunch opposition. Festival organisers Stanley Baker and Lord Harlech found themselves frequently having to appease the worries of those concerned that the event would not significantly harm the local community.

The event went ahead but the weather refused to relent over the four-day event. Torrential rain and hazardous wind conditions forced most attendees to seek shelter by any means they could.

'I was there!'

In order to delve into the true essence of Bardney in 1972 and find out what it was really like I've spoken to the people that were actually there for those four days at Tupholme Manor Park. I am blessed however that my pursuit of such knowledge only takes me as far as my living room where I find my dad, Graham Sell, veteran of the festival. I began by asking how he first heard about the event.

'Basically it was in the local newspapers, the Echo and things like that. It spread around the city that this festival was going to potentially happen, although nobody was quite sure.'

And how did you get on with the people of Bardney? Did you face any problems?

'Not really, although we knew there was opposition. I think the police were quite opposed to it and in some aspects it was over policed. A lot of people were shepherded like cattle going to market. They didn't seem to want to make time to look after people who in effect were bringing a big boost to the local economy. For my part whilst I was there I didn't see any anti-social behaviour or anything that would cause a grievance to local residents.

A sea of people at the Bardney Festival

What about the weather? How torrential were the conditions?

'It was pretty horrendous. If you can imagine the worst ever Glastonbury well this was about five time worse than that! Obviously back then facilities weren't quite so good for coping with those sorts of conditions. Everyone grabbed a piece of polythene from wherever they could. At some point either the local landowner or the festival organisers had to put these poly-tunnels up to try and provide shelter for people. Having said that people stuck with what they'd gone for which was the music. It was unbelievable considering the conditions, I don't know how the acts managed to perform without being electrocuted or blown off the stage.'

Who were the standout performances for you?

'Rory Gallagher was really excellent. Carlos Santana as well, I've always rated him. Joe Cocker too, those were the three that stood out.'

I've also heard your entrepreneurial spirit came out during the festival?

'A mate of mine had a big old van so we thought we might be able to make a few quid by transporting the hippies from the railway station to the site and charge them five bob a piece. We made a couple of runs before the local constabulary condemned the van, as it wasn't really roadworthy. It was a shame really as it was going quite well!' 

So the next time you book and admire the line-up of your next festival, spare a thought for the Great Western Festival of 1972. Although with hindsight the event conspired to be the end of the peace and love generation it was truly a marvellous attraction for the county, the like of which we have yet to see again.