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DId you break in before 1995?


AdamB12321
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Just now, AdamB12321 said:

Thanks for this! I assume during these years, it was incredibly easy just to walk into the festival without a ticket? Was there a fence all the way round, or anyone trying to stop you? Cheers, Adam

one year - I forget which - I bumped into a guy where the main drag crosses the old railway track, who was holding up his ticket and asking 'where do I hand this in?' He'd walked in along the roads at that side of the site, and there were no fences or gates to stop him.

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On 3/19/2020 at 4:48 PM, garc1a said:

i didnt have to break in...  the fence was pulled down before i got there :D just walked in.  early 90s,  i had to jump it one year after getting a punt.  Ive been volunteering since the fence went up.

 

When you say the fence went up, do you mean the 'superfence' in 2000? And would you be able to share more details of the time in the early nineties? WHich year was it, and how much of the fence was pulled down? Were you intending on breaking in anyway? Thanks!

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On 3/19/2020 at 5:14 PM, eFestivals said:

1986. Glastonbury was just a few weeks after "the battle of the beanfield" where hundreds of old bill cornered and smashed up 'the peace convoy' heading for Stonehenge, and arrested hundreds of new age travellers. They were granted bail with a "can't go within 10 miles of Stonehenge" condition.

edit: it's been pointed out that part is wrong, the beanfield was'85 and not '86. Of course. And I definitely didn't go to Glastonbury in '85.

So now i'm confused about how come a year later we couldn't stop in Wiltshire, how come we go a police escort, and how come we had to keep away from Stonehenge - because all those things happened.

-------

I travelled down to Glastonbury from Hampshire with some travellers in a small convoy of about 5 vehicles of tatty vans, some with caravans. At the Wiltshire border we were stopped by the police, and told we couldn't stop in Wiltshire and they gave us an escort through the county to make sure. We had to make a big detour away from Stonehenge because of the bail conditions of some of the group.

Somewhen in Wiltshire at a roundabout the caravan became unhooked from my brother's van and went straight on when we went left; the police laughed. We hooked it up again and carried on.

As we got close to Pilton we stopped so that the ticketless could hide. I hid in that dodgy caravan with another guy, Steve. We drove on.

We took a wrong turning and somehow were heading away from the festival. A police road block set-up to stop (and search) people heading to the festival stopped us because we were heading away from the festival and they thought that was weird.

Hidden in the caravan I couldn't see what was happening, but I could hear. "What's in the caravan?" That's my home, said my brother. "Open it up".

My brother explained that he didn't have the keys, they were with his girlfriend in another van, which hadn't gone the wrong way. So the old bill starts rattling the windows, trying to get in. Eventually he gets bored and sends us on our way.

It's the same story at the gate. My brother can't open the caravan for them to check if anyone's hidden. They let us through. My brother quickly finds the other vans and we park up.

The sod forgets about me, and it's about 20 minutes of me banging before he hears and lets me and Steve out.

Steve soon wanders off. The next afternoon he's back. "Found you at last". He'd spent the night under a hedge in a ditch because he couldn't find us. :lol: 

Also, how did you feel when the police were hammering on the edges of the van? Was it scary, and did you consider getting out and revealing yourselves, or were you confident it'd work?

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Just now, AdamB12321 said:

Also, how did you feel when the police were hammering on the edges of the van? Was it scary, and did you consider getting out and revealing yourselves, or were you confident it'd work?

Nothing scary, a bit of a giggle. Run-ins with the old bill was pretty standard stuff back then for anything to do with a festival.

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Only ever got in without a ticket in 99 & 2000. One year I paid to use someones rope ladder (2000), the other I got a dodgy pass out stamp (99). 

The year we got a stamp 4 of us rocked up in the car park near gate D, two of us has tickets and two not. We had only just got out the car when someone asked if we needed to get in, pay him when we were inside. Ideal I thought so he stamped our hands with his home made stamp and dragged us straight to the front of the massive queue telling everyone we needed to be back stage, we were feeling like right tw@ts at the time. the person checking the stamp told us to "try harder next time" then let us in anyway!

I paid the guy and went straight back out, getting the other hand stamped. We then queued up with our friends and all out stuff.

In 2000 it was quicker to get in over the fence then go through gate D, people were jumping the fence 200M down from gate D.

By the end of the festival there was that much of the fence missing I drove my car into the festival around part of the perimeter, through a food stall area then back out to avoid the  queue out of the car park. Worked a treat, saved me hours!

 

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I'm honestly not sure when I started buying a ticket, but my modus operandi throughout the 80's was no ticket no tent. 

Just a small rucksack containing a bong and the associated gubbins and little else.

Fuck I loved the festival back then. Simple times.

I still love it and everything, but those days were the best.

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On 3/19/2020 at 4:14 PM, AdamB12321 said:

Hi everyone,

I'm writing an article for a major publisher about Glastonbury for the 50th anniversary (which still takes place this year, despite the sad closure of the fest :( )

It's all about a history of jumping over the fence. I have some contributors, but I'm looking for some more that have amazing stories about breaking in/over the fence.

Did you break in between 1990 and 1995? Or between 2003 - 2010?

Please comment below with your stories, or send me a message! Piece will be supportive of the festival and not encouraging people to break in, but sharing some enjoyable stories from the past.

Thanks so much everyone, see you at the fest in 2021 I hope!

Adam 

Just a little out on your date bands, but my brother 'got in' the year the super fence went up (2002). He had flown from Dublin To London knowing that he didn't have a ticket, but also 'knowing' that he was going to get in regardless. He got a lift from London to the festival site with two doctor friends of ours. My brother, a Glastonbury veteran even by that time, then saw the super fence and was a little bit perturbed by what he saw. He had thought that he was just going to get over the old type fence ie. easy peasy. Not to be put off, he walked to an entrance point to have a mooch about. Not long after this he saw an ambulance arriving on to the site from outside. He then saw his chance and went for it. As the ambulance passed him on it's way to be let in through the entrance, he jumped on the back of it and clung on for dear life. As anticipated, the gates were opened and the ambulance drove in, with him on the back of it. He then merely popped off the ambulance and came and joined us (for I was there too) at the only place we have ever camped (which was called Top Webbs Ash. Not sure what it's called now). Anyway, he walked up that hill with a huge grin on his face (this is not a normal occurrence for him) as happy as a happy thing (also not a usual occurrence for him). 

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Climbed the fence in 94. We went ticketless without a clue what we were doing. Drove into the car park and just started walking around the edge of the fence assuming someone would stop us. Within 10 minutes a guy showed up with a ladder and said we could use it for £10 each. 

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