Forums > Social Discussion > The last forest party....

Posted: 19th May 2005
I can see their point. They are conservationists who woke up to find their forest trampled. They've probably been working for a long time to get that forest to the haven for wildlife it was, and it all gets trampled on and a lot of plants destroyed overnight. If I was a forester, I would get pissed off.

But I can also see your point. People are gonna have these parties. I agree that maybe there should be a forest that can be used, specially for these parties. This will also stop a lot of bad press about 'ravers just turning when and where they want to and having a party'. The trees REALLY add to the atmosphere, and it would be a shame to deny thousands of people a chance to come together and have lots of fun.

From the article they say that: quote: "Our barriers have been ripped out of the ground". Barriers are there to stop people going in. Do you have a sign on your garden fence saying: UCoF's Garden, keep out? I don't have a sign on mine, I just assume people take note that the fence is there for a reason. While I don't blame YOU at all for ripping downn the fences, I don't agree with your view of "in all fairness, I didn't notice any signs saying it was a nature reserve". The organiser should have seen on a map, when checking out for locations, that it was a nature reserve. I realise the organiser wasn't you personally, but they should have taken more care over choosing locations. I know plenty of farmers who are more than willing to let you use their land for whatever reason. Most of these farmers own some sort of woodland. All they need is to be asked.

The other thing that pisses me off, is that 'certain group of people'. I agree that it is almost always a small group of people that ruin it for everyone else. It pisses me off so much. You go to a club, there's ALWAYS one person who'll start off a fight etc... I like to go to clubs and juggle/spin on the dancefloor, nothing more. I always walk out to see a big group of people fighting outside with bouncers rushing in. It scares me. I'm not the biggest guy in the world, and these people generally don't seem to care who they pick on. I'm surprised I haven't been a target before, as some things like, walking in their way, talking to someone they don't want anybody to talk to, nudging them accidently when on a packed dancefloor etc etc, not to mention the added extra of having a ball in my hands, and standing out from the crowd.

Anyway, I'm not having a go at you personally, I'm just seeing things from both side of the coin.

Empty your mind. Be formless, Shapeless, like Water.
Put Water into a cup, it becomes the cup, put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle, put water into a teapot, it becomes the teapot.
Water can flow, or it can Crash.
Be Water My Friend.

Posted: 19th May 2005

Written by:

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had come as far away as London, some with babies

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not the babies! arrggghhhh!

I'd like to see designated areas, but I know that's not going to happen. I remember exactly the same comments were made about a liquid connective party i went to a few years (in kent actually, perhaps there's a pattern....). I think better signage would help, but also it's up to event organisers to ensure things like that don't happen and research the area as much as possible. A proper site survey should be the basis of any event for suitability, safety, polution etc whether it's legal or not.

Posted: 19th May 2005
Im off to one in a few weeks, and it has been avertised for a while..... i hope stuff like you experienced doesnt happen, but they are normally pretty good... There was a small one where i live 2 weeks back and the cops came and just said "thats fine, have a good day" Over here we dont really have much trouble. Not to say it NEVER happens though!

Racism is a weapon of mass destruction

Posted: 19th May 2005
"I don't agree with your view of "in all fairness, I didn't notice any signs saying it was a nature reserve"."

Really. I didnt see any signs. So you cant disagree with me on that

Flid: There were NO babies there. So much rubbish has ben made up in the story which is why i am getting annoyed.

Posted: 19th May 2005


you know what I mean!!

Empty your mind. Be formless, Shapeless, like Water.
Put Water into a cup, it becomes the cup, put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle, put water into a teapot, it becomes the teapot.
Water can flow, or it can Crash.
Be Water My Friend.

Posted: 19th May 2005
Cool.

My comments got posted

In their entireity it appears.

Posted: 19th May 2005
things happend at this party that dont usually happen,

the police got to the site 30 minutes after we arrived there. usually in this case the party is shut down and the organisers are told to go home. This time however they sat there, got a few undercover bods to go and have a sniff. They wanted us to have a party, they wanted us to make a mess ect but they did not want to let us know that the site was infact a conservation area. Then when the sun came up they sent some more in to make sure the music wa going to be shut off. they were not harsh or forcefull in there discussions with me and my friend, infact they were rather civilised. It was when everything started to be shut off and packed away that there attiudes changed. taking names of people present and made two arrests for possesion.
I cleaned up for ages picking up wippets from gas and bits of hot glass from fires, i filled two binbags myself before i left the site, others where doing the same going on to when it got dark.
after it was all cleared up there was a BIG pile of rubbish, unfortunatly it could not all be transported at once (everyone had driven off for beds), so two rubbish trips were planned, the crew left the site and reterned to be deniyed acces back on to pick up the rest by the police and foresty commision. they then photographed the pile which WE all picked up and claimed to be there hard work:( the media has warped allot of the facts to fit there own idea of what went on.
im also gonna stress that the organisers had absolutly no idea that the area was a conservation, and that if they had known the site would never have been considered
so im pretty devastated as to what has happened and what it has escalated and turned into. its a shame that such a lovely event has been tarnished so badly
i apologise on behalf of the organisation if anyone has been upset by last weekends events.

h

ERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR. . . . . . . . . . . . . ZAP

Posted: 19th May 2005
Here's the answer.
Get someone who you trust to be impartial, and do a Donal Mcintyre style hidden camera documentary of how things really get organised for a party. When the media goes spreading lies go onto all the newspaper sites you can and give links to a copy of the film and a page with a summary and a load of important quotes from the film that disprove all the media crap.

If it's only a local paper there's still likely to be some well known musicians around who might support you in publicising this, and the blogging community can get the word around to a lot of people too.

One of the main reasons the Criminal Justice Act came in was to stop parties where people could buy and take drugs. People now go to all kinds of events, not just dance music ones, after taking drugs that they bought outside the event. In this respect the CJA is largely a failure, although most likely the whole thing was drafted for ulterior motives, such as population control (keeping people in clubs where they are encouraged to take depressant drugs like alcohol, that decrease the intellectual capacity and ability to converse, as opposed to those that are inclined encourage inquisitiveness and intercommunication.)

You aren't thinking or really existing unless you're willing to risk even your own sanity in the judgment of your existence.

Green peppers, lime pickle and whole-grain mustard = best sandwich filling.

Posted: 19th May 2005
police are realy starting to irritate me now. been section 60'd 3 weekends running now

Posted: 19th May 2005
"If it's only a local paper"

Theres also a bbc news site which also has a twisted view of the story.
https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/kent/4554197.stm

Posted: 22nd Jun 2005
just dug this up as i came across it... thought i might mention that before i went to uni the area i live in was wicked for small parties although since i've been away they got bigger and bigger and started rubbing local residents up the wrong way. it all ended when a couple of farmers came down with shotguns and blew some speakers away and threatened the party goers. the case is still going through court.

now... the parties i used to go to were small, usually with many of the same people each time who only found out a few days before. litter was picked up, police were invited in if the turned up, and generally sites were used which were known to be ok to party in (i.e. not delicate conservation sites). for me this is how parties should be, and far from being nasty the police and local press generally had positive comments to make about them (i have have newspaper cuttings to prove it) with the only complants being from irritated locals complining about traffic noise and stuff. the trouble starts either when parties get too big, are too frequent in the same sites or badly chosen one and are either run by idiots (often kids who don't know what they're doing) or just spoilt by the sort of people you're talking about...

on a positive note though, just as i left nottingham a small part collective had jut started up with the right approach, shame i'm not gonna be there to enjoy it this summer!

It is our fantasies that make us real. Without our fantasies we're just a blank monkey' - Terry Pratchett

Posted: 23rd Jun 2005
mmm I think 2000 party people are going to trash an ecosystem in any natural forest. It was wrong for them to hold a party that widely promoted in a natural forest setting I reckon.

--
Help! My personality got stuck in this signature machine and I cant get it out!

Posted: 23rd Jun 2005
Donno, i guess it was not the party goers fault but a few points about the orginisation

2000 people!!!! did they not expect this this number of people are going to cause damage

If the honestly did not know it was a wild life reserve, then obiously they did not do their research properly,

Posted: 24th Jun 2005

Written by: Pyrolific

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mmm I think 2000 party people are going to trash an ecosystem in any natural forest. It was wrong for them to hold a party that widely promoted in a natural forest setting I reckon.

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i agree but i think that's a bit of a harsh comment towards the organisors.

exactly how widely promoted do you think it was?

i found out about the party solely by word of mouth from as did most of the people i know who attended.

i think its pretty hard for the organisors to estimate attendance when the main form of promotion is unmeasurable...


cole. x

"i see you at 'dis cafe.
i come to 'dis cafe quite a lot myself.
they do porridge."
- tim westwood

Posted: 26th Jun 2005

Written by: Unnamed Cutie On Front

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Unfortunately, the post party press has been very, very harsh.



I respect nature and the countryside more than most party goers (I have over 10 years Scouting experience and I am currently a leader).



It’s a party which is put on by hippies, for hippies.



(In all fairness, I didn’t notice any signs saying it was a nature reserve, either on the way down there, or in the light on the way back to the car).

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I don't think that the press have been at all harsh - if I was the warden of that site you have no idea how angry I'd have been. Wildlife conservation is not something that happens overnight and the view that picking up litter after you is extremely short sighted. To develop a site into one that can sustain rare species (species that are rare due to habitat loss) take years of careful planning, lots of fundraising and years of hard graft. So when so called hippies come along to have a jolly and inadvertently destroy microhabitats it causes much upset. If I was the warden I'd have sort to make an example of the organisers by taking appropriate legal action!!!



If you had gone to the trouble of using google you would have found out that the site is of special wildlife interest (first hit on a Denge Woods google search - took 5 seconds to find). Alarm bells should have been sounding already!!! If you'd gone to a bit more trouble you would have found that the site is of great importance to butterfly conservation (fist hit on a Denge Woods Species google search - took another 5 seconds). So you may think you respect the countryside but on this occasion you have respected your personal enjoyment far more than the countryside. Come on - how often are you in front of a PC and yet you did not take ten seconds to make sure that the party was not going to mess up the environment? Have you any idea how many caterpillars got trampled on? OK - some people may think that trampling on caterpillars is irrelevant but when butterfly species are on the decline (in fact many of species in the species list are protected species) I for one do not!!! How are you to see signs when fences are taken down? How are you to see signs at night? How are you to see signs when you don’t look for them? The signs were there in front of you on the internet but you choose not to read them.



You may think that I am personally criticising you Jon and you’d be right. You are an intelligent person who actually knows about the environment and educates others through scouting and yet you didn’t take the time to ask yourself “…this party is in woodland. Woodlands are important environments. Is this party going to damage this environment…” It is the responsibility of every party goer to ask this question then make an informed decision whether or not to attend or even go as far to report the organisers.

>What do you think about the state of the Earth?
>I'm optimistic.
>So why do you look so sad?
>I'm not sure that my optimism is justified.

Posted: 26th Jun 2005
Wow. Full on Stu. But fair comment, I think. You're right when you say that all party goers should be aware of where they're partying, but realistically, they're not going to. Most free parties down here that I go to, I don't know where I'm actually going until I get there. I rely on the organisers to make sure that area has permission, or at the very least, isnt going to cause an environmental disaster.

I'm sure they're lovely, well-minded people, but as Gelfling's google searches show, they didn't really plan the thing properly. Maybe this will inspire other party organisers to do their research more thoroughly in future, so that this kind of punishment in the press isn't repeated.

P.S. Love ya Jon

"I believe the cost of life is Death and we will all pay that in full. Everything else should be a gift. We paid the cover charge of life, we were born."

Bill Hicks, February 1988