i am now a published writer and photographer :)
in the summer of 2011 while we were parked up at the ridgeway near avebury, wiltshire i was busy writing some words for a book that was going to be published in 2012. alan dearling a lovely friend of mine who has written traveller books before had asked me to get involved, he wanted me to write some words on music and festivals within the new traveller community in the uk. he also asked me to contribute some photos to go with my chapter. at the time i didn't realise how many people were involved and the impact it would have but at the end of the summer 2012 the book was published to critical acclaim. i am so proud to have been involved in this project and would love to do more work like this in the future.
please go to alan's WEBSITE to buy the book :)
Travelling Daze - Words and images from the UK's new Travellers and festivals, late 1960s to the here and now - Alan Dearling, with Traveller friends
A real 'wow, amazing' kind of book. A4 landscape, full colour, around 200 pps packed with over 600 pics, artwork, images and hundreds of tales from the festivals, park-ups, roadsides, sites and conflicts with police.
It's a full-on roller-coaster ride. Good times, bad times and ones in between. Even the contributors are saying: "Can't wait to see it all."
"I absolutely loved site living...you could pull up at any site, anywhere, and within a couple of days you would know who was who." Nicki Turton
Taffthephoto & StonehengeSteve Bubble remembers,"The sheer excitement, anything could happen and often did."
The year after the Beanfield, Taff the Photo reminisces: "After a few hours stand-off, the police started arresting everybody for obstruction of the highway, despite that it was them that had blocked the road in the first place. This turned into the largest mass arrest in UK history, about 900 I believe."
Margaret Greenfields, remembering helping organise the Festival Welfare Services: "They were great days – we did some fantastic things – and I don't regret a moment."
Alan Dearling has worked with the other contributors over the last four years to gather the contributions in (and write his own). Broadly, 'Travelling Daze' kicks off with the people, places, festivals, and some of the music from the hippy late-'60s through the free festivals of the seventies and early eighties. We meet Wally Hope and Sid Rawle. Read their own words, many of which have never been seen before. Add a spice of punk and some reggae herbs to the mix. Then stir in some road protesters, real mud, and more than a few eco-warriors. Buzz: "Everyone looks after each other. It's just like a massive family...You just can't beat it...You own your own home...I love it. Only way I know really."
It's a full-on roller-coaster ride. Good times, bad times and ones in between. Even the contributors are saying: "Can't wait to see it all."
"I absolutely loved site living...you could pull up at any site, anywhere, and within a couple of days you would know who was who." Nicki Turton
Taffthephoto & StonehengeSteve Bubble remembers,"The sheer excitement, anything could happen and often did."
The year after the Beanfield, Taff the Photo reminisces: "After a few hours stand-off, the police started arresting everybody for obstruction of the highway, despite that it was them that had blocked the road in the first place. This turned into the largest mass arrest in UK history, about 900 I believe."
Margaret Greenfields, remembering helping organise the Festival Welfare Services: "They were great days – we did some fantastic things – and I don't regret a moment."
Alan Dearling has worked with the other contributors over the last four years to gather the contributions in (and write his own). Broadly, 'Travelling Daze' kicks off with the people, places, festivals, and some of the music from the hippy late-'60s through the free festivals of the seventies and early eighties. We meet Wally Hope and Sid Rawle. Read their own words, many of which have never been seen before. Add a spice of punk and some reggae herbs to the mix. Then stir in some road protesters, real mud, and more than a few eco-warriors. Buzz: "Everyone looks after each other. It's just like a massive family...You just can't beat it...You own your own home...I love it. Only way I know really."
Along came rave, and with it, plenty of techno-rebels. More new people; more new Travellers. The Travellers were loathed and reviled by Maggie, and successive governments made every attempt to criminalise the travelling life style with Criminal Justice Acts in 1986 and 1994. They failed. Many of the older new Travellers are still sharing their skills, attitude, madness and mayhem. The Tribes are strong. They've mutated and are pretty much flourishing. And they are still with us in the midst of the current festival and party scene.
Years in the living. Now you can share it; in Living Technicolour, the lives and times of many of the UK's most colourful characters.
Travelling Daze Contents:
‘Endure, Adapt, Evolve’ (or, Emerge, Mutate, Flourish) A kind of Intro...Alan Dearling
In the beginning, there was Phil Russell... - Alan Dearling
Keeping Hope alive: Then, now and into our futures. A personal account by Dean Phillips, custodian of the Wally Hope Appreciation Society
Wally in ‘others’ words’. A further excursion into Wally Worlds from Alan
Life with the Convoy: to Stoney Cross and Beyond...Amanda (Gemini)
David Stooke: Traveller artist. Includes Green Lane by Reg Desborough, Spider by DiceGeorge and Phil the Beer by Andy Hope.
Festival Welfare Services – the early years: a personal memoir by Margaret Greenfields and Yvonne Doyle
George Firsoff (1944-2004)...Alan Dearling
Life after Newbury...provided by Pete Sheppard
Twice Blessed: Born a Traveller...Ferdia Earle
People are the best part of nature. Painting by Elizabeth Anderton
Sid Rawle...compiled by Alan Dearling
Sid’s place in Traveller history...Andy Worthington
Some more observations about Sid...Alan Dearling (with Jeremy Sandford)
The Vision of Albion by Sid Rawle as told to Jeremy Sandford
Memories of travelling days - Nicki Turton
Some memories of travelling days...Nicki Turton
Memories of free festivals and travelling scene...Steve Bubble
A sense of community by Liz
Hawkwind: a few words about the ultimate Traveller band...Alan Dearling
You could live like that...Netty Miles
Taff the Photo – bits of my history
The Levellers: There's only one way of life, And that's your own...Alan Dearling
Travelling Bands: Music and Festivals within new Traveller Culture 1995-2011...Sam Wilkinson
Epilogue: Affinities...Alan Dearling
Plus:
Stonehenge Free Festival illustration...Gary (Teapot Circus)
Westbury White Horse 1985 illustration...Gary (Teapot Circus)
Artwork from David Stooke, Joe Public, Gubby and additional pics by many people, especially Taff the Photo and Traveller Dave Fawcett, and more including those from Chazz Pink; Nigel Ayers; Fiona Earle, Rob Large; Flash Harry; Frank; Carol Waller, Graeme Strike, Matt Smith and other travelling friends, Alan by Rita Kaisen.
Dedicated to all of the UK’s Travellers.
Those who have sadly left us, those who have found different homes, and those who are still keeping the faiths.
Price: £16.50 plus £3.50 p&p in UK - 'Tis a big bugger...
isbn: 978-0-9523316-9-8
An Enabler Publication
Taff the Photo – bits of my history
The Levellers: There's only one way of life, And that's your own...Alan Dearling
Travelling Bands: Music and Festivals within new Traveller Culture 1995-2011...Sam Wilkinson
Epilogue: Affinities...Alan Dearling
Plus:
Stonehenge Free Festival illustration...Gary (Teapot Circus)
Westbury White Horse 1985 illustration...Gary (Teapot Circus)
Artwork from David Stooke, Joe Public, Gubby and additional pics by many people, especially Taff the Photo and Traveller Dave Fawcett, and more including those from Chazz Pink; Nigel Ayers; Fiona Earle, Rob Large; Flash Harry; Frank; Carol Waller, Graeme Strike, Matt Smith and other travelling friends, Alan by Rita Kaisen.
Dedicated to all of the UK’s Travellers.
Those who have sadly left us, those who have found different homes, and those who are still keeping the faiths.
Price: £16.50 plus £3.50 p&p in UK - 'Tis a big bugger...
isbn: 978-0-9523316-9-8
An Enabler Publication
Comments