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

[chance33_98]

I feel better about myself already.

[chance33_98]

I think we need to keep a few of these pics for the next fr fundraiser =)

[Dane]

I guess those Sgt. Pepper's duds will never go out of fashion. There will always be an occasion to bring them out.

[I_Love_My_Husband]

Old pervs who just want to see young women naked.

[nutmeg]

ping!

Please FReepmail me if you want on or off my infrequent ‘miscellaneous’ ping list.

[Porterville]

I hate hippies, I hate them, I really hate hippies...does that make me mean??? Or is it that I hate falsehood??

[Larry Lucido]

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

The park was closed following the visit of one Griswold family from Chicago.

[Reactionary]

I think they're keeping in tune with the flow of acid.

That's just me...

[putupon]

far out

[HairOfTheDog]

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

I love it.... The world is a carnival.

[Welsh Rabbit]

I hate hippies, I hate them, I really hate hippies...does that make me mean???

It's perfectly normal and healthy to feel that way.

[prisoner6]

These "folks" give druids, picts, and the rest of my ancestors a bad name.

BTW I've been known to jump naked through a Beltain fire a few times, and Halloween is a Big Deal with my clan.

Wold love to go to someplace like Maes Howe for the coming of the sun in January.

Just getting in touch with those from my family who went before me.

prisoner6

[najida]

Great,
The only nekkid man pic we get and he looks like Popeye.

Call me when Brad Pitt shows up ;)

[Fiddlstix]

I think we need to keep a few of these pics for the next fr fundraiser =)

Great Idea!

[Pontiac]

He told BBC Radio 5 Live druids were joined at the 5,000 year-old World Heritage site

The UN is out to license culture. If it part of a cultures heritage it must be controlled by the World Government.

[Mears]

I'll take St Patrick's Day in a pub any day of the week!

[prisoner6]

Hey...don't forget St David's day! Or Up-Hell-Aa, or Burn's Night, or Easter, or Mardi Gras (or Daytona, or Spring Break or The Masters or Indy) for that matter. For me and my clan they are all milestones to be passed on the way out of the Bad of the Year into the Good of the Year.

With the exception of Easter we don't "celebrate" any of them, but WE DO OBSERVE and RECOGNIZE them as part of our family heritage.

I think a lot of it comes from us living without (central)heat in an area that gets it's share of cold and snow.

Helps to pass the time.

prisoner6

[Prodigal Son]

I guess Stonehenge is a lot cheaper and easier to get to than the Ring of Brodgar. I've been to both and I think Brodgar is more impressive. If I had to go to either on the soltstice it would be there- you get a lot more daylight to boot. At this time of the year the sky never gets properly dark in Scotland and that far north the effect would be even better.

[LiteKeeper]

INTSUM