Hi all,
Out now: 'The Battle of the Beanfield', edited by Andy Worthington, with photos and contributions by Alan Lodge, Tim Malyon, Neil Goodwin, Gareth Morris, Alan Dearling and others.
Enabler Publications presents the first full-length book about an event that has gone down in modern British folk history as 'The Battle of the Beanfield.'
'The Battle of the Beanfield' took place on June 1st 1985, after a convoy of new travellers, peace protestors, green activists and festival-goers had set off from Savernake Forest in Wiltshire to establish the 12th annual free festival at Stonehenge. They never reached their destination. Eight miles from the Stones they were ambushed, assaulted and arrested with unprecedented brutality by a quasi-military police force of over 1,300 officers drawn from six counties and the MoD. As well as suppressing the festival and introducing a summer solstice 'exclusion zone' around Stonehenge that lasted until the year 2000, 'The Battle of the Beanfield' also marked the start of a concerted effort to 'decommission' the whole of the new travellers' movement.
This book, published to mark the 20th anniversary of 'The Battle of the Beanfield', is the combined effort of a large number of people who feel passionately that only through reaching an understanding of what actually occurred before, during and after 'The Battle of the Beanfield' can a proper 'closure' take place for those involved and the many people who have been in some way touched by it. The 14 chapters feature extracts from the police radio log and in-depth interviews with a range of people who were there on the day – including travellers, journalists Nick Davies and Kim Sabido, the Earl of Cardigan and Deputy Chief Constable Ian Readhead – as well as Lord Gifford QC, who represented 24 of the travellers at the Beanfield trial in 1991. These accounts cut through the myths, misconceptions and propaganda that have built up around 'The Battle of the Beanfield' to present a detailed picture of what actually did happen.
Also included are many previously unseen photos, a description of the making of the documentary 'Operation Solstice', and chapters which set the events of the Beanfield in context. These look at the evolution of the free festival scene, new travellers, convoys and peace protestors, 'raves' and road protests, the campaigns for access to Stonehenge, and the wider implications of the events of the Beanfield, through increasingly draconian legislation, on civil liberties in the UK.
If anyone's at the Glastonbury Festival, I'll be holding a book launch throughout the day on Saturday 25th June at the Groovy Movie Picture House in the Green Fields, followed at 8 pm by a mini-film festival ('Operation Solstice' and other Stonehenge-related films) and a short talk on 'The legacy of the Beanfield'.
For further information on 'The Battle of the Beanfield', please visit: www.andyworthington.co.uk
All the best,
Andy
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