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Concert cancelled among fears of rave repeat
A CASTLEMORTON resident cancelled a folk concert at his home after pressure from authorities who were worried about a repeat of the 1992 invasion'.
Alan Turnbull had arranged the gig for Bank Holiday Sunday in the grounds of his house at Hancocks Lane. Performing were the band Tragic Roundabout, which plays klezmer, a style of east European Jewish wedding music.
Mr Turnbull got a license for the event from Malvern Hills District Council, put tickets on sale and advertised the event, including on the Internet.
But police raised concerns that the event may become a magnet for ravers, raising fears of a repeat of the events of 1992, when the common was occupied by thousands of travellers for a "free festival" lasting days, and approached Mr Turnbull.
The license was withdrawn and the event went ahead with no-one paying for entry and no drinks on sale.
Mr Turnbull described the police action as "heavy-handed" and said people coming to the gig were stopped by police and had their names and registration numbers taken.
"It was nothing like a rave. This is an acoustic band playing klezmer music. I was expecting between 150 and 200 people to turn up." he said.
Police remained on duty on the common all night, and the force helicopter was also deployed.
"I've lived here 12 years and I don't want to make trouble for anyone," said Mr Turnbull. "This whole thing is just an embarrasment."
A police spokesman said: "The advertised public event was cancelled and replaced with a much smaller and quieter private event. The event passed off without incident. A number of local people have called to express their gratitude."
4:06pm Thursday 8th May 2008
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CommentPosted by: chocolate starfish, malvern on 6:10pm Thu 8 May 08
A wafer thin excuse to cancel but a great excuse to get the helicopter oiled up and out of the shed to start scouring the skies for god knows what.
Maybe its a way of the Police saying “sorry” for what we did by forcing all of those lovely skumbags to Castlemorton common in 1992 to murder sheep and dance like there is no tomorrow.
“Hey look we have it all under control, we have stopped these hippies playing klezmer, traditional Jewish wedding music induced with a little ska. And just to put a nail in their crusty coffin we have hassled them all night and hounded them with our great big helicopter. You won’t be seeing the likes of them again.”
A wafer thin excuse to cancel but a great excuse to get the helicopter oiled up and out of the shed to start scouring the skies for god knows what.
Maybe its a way of the Police saying “sorry” for what we did by forcing all of those lovely skumbags to Castlemorton common in 1992 to murder sheep and dance like there is no tomorrow.
“Hey look we have it all under control, we have stopped these hippies playing klezmer, traditional Jewish wedding music induced with a little ska. And just to put a nail in their crusty coffin we have hassled them all night and hounded them with our great big helicopter. You won’t be seeing the likes of them again.”
Posted by: M@lvernite, UK on 9:37am Fri 9 May 08
What a ridiculous situation.
For the last 16 years any planned outdoor music event in or around Malvern has come under fire from protesters who are worried that it will "turn into another Castlemoreton common", ruining countless carefully planned events for law-abiding residents and potential tourists.
I was under the impression that rave music and indeed the rave scene diminished in the mid 1990s after the introduction of the criminal justice bill which outlawed such events, being replaced by licensed nightclubs and properly planned, licenced festivals.
I couldn't quote specific figures but I know it is not cheap to fly a helicopter around all night, particularly just to prevent a folk evening in someone's back garden from turning into a week-long rave festival on the common; the reason the ravers came in 1992 was because West Mercia police were too incompetent to move them along after they were shooed out of Gloucestershire.
I can only imagine that the Upton Jazz festival is allowed to continue because it is sufficiently distant from Castlemoreton.
What a ridiculous situation.
For the last 16 years any planned outdoor music event in or around Malvern has come under fire from protesters who are worried that it will "turn into another Castlemoreton common", ruining countless carefully planned events for law-abiding residents and potential tourists.
I was under the impression that rave music and indeed the rave scene diminished in the mid 1990s after the introduction of the criminal justice bill which outlawed such events, being replaced by licensed nightclubs and properly planned, licenced festivals.
I couldn't quote specific figures but I know it is not cheap to fly a helicopter around all night, particularly just to prevent a folk evening in someone's back garden from turning into a week-long rave festival on the common; the reason the ravers came in 1992 was because West Mercia police were too incompetent to move them along after they were shooed out of Gloucestershire.
I can only imagine that the Upton Jazz festival is allowed to continue because it is sufficiently distant from Castlemoreton.
Posted by: Castro Spendlove, Gt Malvern on 9:37am Wed 14 May 08
Listen right! If I had turned up to [italic]Alan's Psychadelic Klezmer Rave[/italic] only to find there was no booze on sale then [bold][italic][italic]I[/italic] [/italic] [/bold] would have made enough trouble for everyone.
Thank the gods for Alan's secret scrumpy butt at the bottom of the garden.
Guarded by elfs.
Listen right! If I had turned up to
Alan's Psychadelic Klezmer Rave only to find there was no booze on sale then
I would have made enough trouble for everyone.
Thank the gods for Alan's secret scrumpy butt at the bottom of the garden.
Guarded by elfs.
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