Aging (and Wannabe)Hippie Alert: Stonehenge 2003 "...in touch with the flow of nature"

BBC News On-Line ^ | Saturday, 21 June, 2003 | staff writer

[yankeedame]

Saturday, 21 June, 2003, 12:32 GMT 13:32 UK

Solstice revellers watch sunrise

Revellers said the sunrise over the stones was "spectacular"

More than 30,000 people gathered at Stonehenge in Wiltshire to mark the summer solstice. Ahead of the midsummer event police warned people not to hold any unlicensed "mass gatherings" afterwards.

English Heritage has reopened the site to the public after it was closed for a number of years.

Astrologer Roy Gillett, who was among the crowds there to watch the sunrise just before 0500 BST, said it was important to celebrate this the longest day of the year. (It is? Why?- YD)

Friends shared the dawn experience
(To your's truly this looks like an ad from NexTel. 'Can you hear me see it? Good!" -YD)

He told BBC Radio 5 Live druids were joined at the 5,000 year-old World Heritage site by anyone who wanted to "keep in touch with the flow of nature".

He said Stonehenge was of particular significance as many believed the site was built as an observatory thousands of years ago.

"We want to keep in tune with nature," he said.

Police presence

But police in the neighbouring county of Hampshire warned they would not tolerate any illegal parties after the solstice.

Officers were out in force in the area between Basingstoke, Andover and the Wiltshire border to thwart any attempts to hold parties.

Earlier Superintendent Mark Chatterton, Andover's divisional commander, said: "We are not being killjoys, we are all in favour of people having a good time provided the event is properly licensed to ensure that it is safe for everyone".

The police have said that sound systems and speakers would be seized in the event of an unlicensed gathering.

The Ministry of Defence, a major landowner around Andover, has worked with police to ensure their sites were secure from occupation by solstice revellers.

Of course there was only one book which could distract anyone from the solstice celebrations

[SunkenCiv]

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