Worthy Farm

Worthy Causes

The glastonbury festival has given millions of pounds to charity since the beginning, this year the major sponsors were Greenpeace,
Oxfam and Water Aid.

Worthy History

In 1970 Michael Eavis, was inspired by a blues festival at the Bath and West Showground, to stage his own music festival.
Mark Bolan's T-Rex headlined after the Kinks pulled out at the 11th hour. 1971 and the festival is funded by rich hippy benefactors, entry is free and music is plentiful, played on
a pyramid shaped stage positioned above a Glastonbury - Stonehenge ley-line.
Between 1971 and 1978 no official glastonbury festival takes place, due to Stonehenge being the main summer attraction of the discerning hippy. 1979 and 12000 people turn up to see the
likes of Steve Hillage and Peter Gabriel, heavy debts are incurred, so there is no glastonbury festival the following year. Although the 1981 festival was called the "glastonbury
CND Festival", and Hawkwind are back again, the hippy vibe was challenged by New Order appearing on the bill and Ginger Baker and Roy Harper
coming to blows on a new, permanent, pyramid stage. 1982 sees the first mud fest, with the highest rainfall on a single day for 45 years recorded on the Friday, notable acts this year were the veteran hippie
- Gong, and Gary Newman's Tubeway Army. 1983 moments included the festival radio station, Radio Avalon, broadcasting for the first time and Ub40 and The Beat playing.
1984 and the first wind generator is sited next to the pyramid stage. 1985 another famous wet one, Paul Wellers' Style Council get pelted with mud. 1986 was a year off to allow the land to rest,
although unofficial sources were of the opinion, that trouble between festival organisers and traveller hippies over their right to free entry was the issue. This was given further credence in 1987, when
festival wasn't granted a license until May, and trouble flares between security guards and a 450 strong convoy of hippies demanding free entry, music fans got treated to a new world music area - The Jazz Stage. 1988
was another gap year blamed on the lawlessness the previous year. 1989 and police are invited on to the site for the first time. 1990 and Acid House arrives at the festival, and the Happy Mondays headline.
After another year off 1992 was the year Tom Jones played and a giant wicker man was burnt. Golden Oldies - Velvet Underground play alongside The Orb and Rage Against The Machine. Disaster strikes in the months
running up to the 1994glastonbury festival as the Pyramid Stage burns to the ground, Pulp and Oasis play to the first TV audience to witness the glastonbury festival. The first dedicated dance stage arrives in 1995 for the likes of Portishead and Massive Attack.
1996 is another year off, the next glastonbury festival in 1997, is popular in history as the year of the mud, the second stage is closed early on the Saturday night - to prevent it sinking into the ground. 1998 and the rains return on cue to turn the glastonbury festival
into a mud bath again, most infamous event this year was when a tanker, which was used to service the toilets, was brought into the dance tent to suck up the mud was switched to blow by mistake! 1999 turned out to be a scorcher, with incredible sets
by Norman Cook (aka Fat Boy Slim) and REM . 2000 and 100 000 paying punters, and 20 000 fence jumpers, enjoy the first festival of the new millenium and arguably the best year yet.

Glastonbury Festival Tickets

100,000 tickets go on sale around easter from authorised ticket agents and via the official web site.
Tickets usually sell relatively quickly and are often sold out well before the festival. Ticket touts are present at the festival
gates and occasionally they will be selling genuine tickets at vastly inflated prices or more likely to be forgeries, ticket touts are unlikely to offer a refund
on forged tickets, even if you can find the tout who sold you it.

Not all festival goers are likely to rely on tickets to get in through the 10 foot high
double perimeter fence and rely on various methods to scale the fence or tunnel under it and then bribe the security guards who catch them, usually $10-$20.
Official estimates this year put the number of people who successfully bypassed these security arrangements at upto 20,000, the next festival is expected to have
a much higher level of security to keep these numbers down, also more tickets are expected to be put on sale.

Working tickets, there are a variety of jobs that can be done to cover your entry fee, from serving beer for 8 hours a day and two pints, and wandering around for a few hours a day
as a camp site steward as an example. Check the official glastonbury festival website for details

Getting To The Glastonbury Festival!

A bit of a bum steer this as the festival is a reasonable distance away from the town of glastonbury, near a village called Pilton.

• By Car

The Site is situated just off the A361 between Glastonbury and Shepton Mallet, it is very well
sign-posted from all the major roads into the area, and the site has
very large carparks surrounding it. Due to most people arriving by car between Thursday evening
and Friday evening the surrounding area suffers from gridlock and queues of several hours are usuall.
Car drivers are even known to miss the headline bands on the Sunday to try and beat the traffic off-site,
often with little success.

• By Public Transport

There is a train station in the nearby town of Castle Cary and a regular free bus service (for holders of train tickets only) all the
way to the festival gate, much closer than car drivers can get! This service runs from the wednesday to the monday afternoon. For times and details try the Railtrack website

National Express coaches also deliver the glastonbury festival goer to the gate from almost every part of the country.

• By Bicycle

This mode of transport is becoming more popular by the year, partly due to increased secure storage facilities for cycles
within the festival. It also allows you to ride to where you pitch your tent, so no carrying or tiresome walking.

• By Thumb

Hitch-hiking is the cheapest, and, usually, the most interesting form of travel and arrival. For more info on this visit the following sites for advice and assistance.
www.liftshare.com ,www.freewheelers.com and www.hitchhikers.org

• By Helicopter

Usually only available to members of headlining bands and media types!

• By Spaceship

Park it anywhere, and people will suspect it's an art exhibition of some kind or another. If you feel that your physical attributes may make you stand out as an alien, don't worry, festival goers will not suspect you are anything other than one of the performers.
The festival should easily be visible from the upper atmosphere.

Things to do and places to visit at Glastonbury,
apart from watching corporate rock whores

• Visit the Somerset Cider Bus - for some of the finest hot'n'spicy cider (also known
  as hot'n'tiny/tidy spiders) in the world - located near the Pyramid stage

• Spend at least one sunset 'til dawn in the stone circle.

• Find the "naked protest" man, and marvel at his bare faced cheek (and other bits!),
  his name is Vincent and he is making a very important social/political point. Respect due!
  Legalise Humanity

• Spend half an hour in the underground piano bar, located, somewhere, in the green fields.
  It has a maximum capacity of about 40, and this year was the chosen venue, in 2000, for a duet by Jools Holland
  and Michael Eavis, allegedly, the most talked about performance over the weekend!

• Spend as much time as possible in the circus, caberet, theatre, poetry and comedy tents, and
  the outdoor stages in this area. Where you are, almost, guaranteed to be assailed by a street
  theatre performance, though at times during the festival there is little distinction between
  these performers and genuine glastonbury festival goers.

• Visit the green fields to talk to hippies and find out how to be a better person.
  

• Buy an "interesting cookie for grown ups only" from a happy hippy in the green
  fields/stone circle area, first leave your identity and sanity at the closest free
  property lock up for collection later. nb. unclaimed property is transferred to
  lost property after the festival.

Essential Advice For The Glastonbury Festival Virgin

DON'T PANIC!

• Remember where you pitch your tent, you might pitch your tent in an empty field, wander off and get drunk, stumble back
  in the dark a few hours later and find 5000 almost identical tents in the same field. Strangely lots of people do this,
  and they never find their tents until it is morning or/and they are sober.
  
• There is a bank (Nat West) on site at the festival, though lengthy queues(sp) of several hours are usual.
• Make friends with your neighbours, as they might keep an eye on your tent/belongings for you in return for similair favours.
  
• Make a plan of all the bands and things you want to see, rip it up as soon as you see the programme and realise that most of your choices clash with each other.
  
• Use the 'free' property lock-ups situated convienently around the festival, they also supply free soap and loo roll most of the time!
  
• Be sure to have packed a combination of wellies, suncream, waterproofs, sunglasses and sandals as the weather is never guaranteed and combinations of
  monsoon and heatwave can be experienced within the same weekend.
  
• Don't pitch your tent down hill of the toilets.
• Don't attempt to buy drugs off strangers, especially if they don't appear to be on them theirselves - you could be ripped off or worse, arrested!
  

For more in depth advice visit the official glastonbury festival website www.glastonburyfestivals.co.uk

This entry is ^still being corrected( and has been recommended!), come back soon!

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