Arabella Churchill, granddaughter of Winston and daughter of Randolph Churchill, who had worked alongside Michael Eavis in helping run Glastonbury Festival since 1971 died early yesterday.
Michael Eavis has made the following tribute on the Festival's website:
Arabella Churchill; died at 3am this morning. It is with a great weight of grief and sadness to have to pass this message on to so many of you who have known her and worked with her for many years. She has been a stalwart and one of the most valuable members of our team for the last 37 years. Her energy, vitality, and great sense of morality and social responsibility have given her a place in our Festival history second to none.
May her place in the great eternity be always peaceful and perhaps the mysteries of the heavens will accommodate her spirit forever.
Michael Eavis
20/12/07
Michael Eavis says of her in the book 'Glastonbury Festival Tales': "Then came Andrew Kerr and Arabella Churchill with plans for a bigger Festival in 1971 to be called 'Glastonbury Fayre', which could, among other things, possibly recoup some loss. The Guardian once described Andrew Kerr as 'charismatic'. It must surely be praise, and with a name and, as it turned out, a personality like Arabella, I felt we could not go wrong."
Along with Kerr, she helped financially with the free Glastonbury Fayre, and after years of impromtu festivals, Michael Eavis has said "In 1979 we decided - Arabella, Bill Harkin and me - to have another proper festival. I thought this sounds a good idea. Arabella's got a lot of energy, so they fired away".
Arabella has said "In 1981, after Michael took it under his control and made it a CND event, I suppose we were all summoned back. By then I had set up the Children's World charity, and I'd already got involved in running the Glastonbury Children's Festival, so I decided that since my main work was with children, I would take on theatre, although I didn't know much about the theatrical side in those days".
Having run the circus and theatre fields since that point, millions have enjoyed the benefits of Arabella's dedicated work. Our thoughts are with her family and friends.
Glastonbury Festival 
