STATEMENT OF INTENT
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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.
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've 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, whatever
beautiful, far-reaching, earth-healing visionary wonder we can muster.
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.
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
PROPOSED PRESS RELEASE
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.
READ THE FINALISED PRESS RELEASE OF
Stonehenge Solstice Celebration 2003
HERE
 
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