HAPPY SOLSTICE!

INTRODUCTION

The purpose of this article is to give some background to the successful millennium solstice celebrations at Stonehenge on 20 June 2000. Free public access was permitted to the Stones for the first time in fifteen years. Stonehenge is a four thousand year old sacred site of huge stones located in the middle of a plain in Wiltshire in the south of England. Some parts of the site are said to date back 10,000 years. Many people regard access to Stonehenge as their birthright and resent the designation of a site as a government regulated tourist money-spinner.

The peace process at Stonehenge is important as it represents a microcosm of multiparty, multifaith conflicts across the globe. The article describes the work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission for Stonehenge and seeks to illuminate the successful use of community policing and the necessity of valuing the journey and time for varying group processes in achieving a goal, in this instance peaceful, open access to Stonehenge on 20 June, 2000.

Ritual and celebratory gatherings are necessary for the human psyche. They represent some of the oldest customs in all societies. It is important that all cultures recognise the needs of all sectors of society to meet and celebrate. This includes the homeless, unemployed and travellers (Firsoff 1992). Mass celebration and ritual are part of the basic right of all citizens. We are gregarious animals.

Why is Stonehenge important?

Stonehenge is important for many reasons as it is:
· one of the oldest pre Celtic sacred sites in England
· an ancient temple (perhaps to the earth goddess) and sacred site for druids, pagans, witches, shamans, healers and many others

· an observatory for the movements of the sun and moon over a fifty-six year cycle
· a meeting place for travellers; some bless their children there; others scatter ashes of departed loved ones.

At the dawn of the summer solstice (the longest day of the year), the site is of particular significance as the rising sun (weather permitting) sends a ray of light into the inner sanctum of the temple. Colin Wilson (author of "Mysteries, a treatise on the standing Stones") has documented the energy given out by the Stones. He cites the Cambridge archaeologist, Tom Lethbridge (Wilson:2000) who was convinced that the Stones were charged with the vital energy of people who have danced around them for over 4,500 years and that they possess some kind of healing power. He concluded that the Stones as an astrological computer enabled prehistoric farmers to tap into the changing natures of the energies generated by different alignments of the sun, moon and planets. The Stones therefore have a mix of historical, scientific and spiritual significance and negotiations have takeen place across many & varied cultural groups.

BACKGROUND TO PAST CONFLICTS

Between 1973 and 1985 the Stones became the centre for public celebrations and pop festivals. On June 1st 1985 police in full riot armour cordoned off 650 men, women and children in what was later called "The Battle of the Beanfield". Riot police reportedly truncheoned people indiscriminately, attacked and smashed vehicles and property. Two vehicles burst into flames. Photographers were arrested and forbidden to record events. Eight police and 16 hippies were taken to hospital. The police had clearly overreacted. Later, some of those who suffered were awarded damages in the High Court (for a fuller version of events please see Firsoff, 1992). Talks broke down and each group retreated and their positions became entrenched. Open and free public access was banned for fifteen years. The organisation of the 'Exclusion Zone' (a ban on processions and/or gatherings which the House of Lords declared to be illegal) cost the public purse large sums of money over that time, some say more than the cost of monitoring free public access. It should be remembered that the farm land including the stones were donated to the nation in the will of Cecil Chubb, a Druid in 1918 in a Deed of Gift stating "The public shall have access to all parts thereof" (Firsoff, 1999:2). The will is deemed to be legally not enforceable, but it appears a pity that the government could not morally respect the intent of the benefactor.

People are/were only allowed to view the Stones from behind a wire fence for a £6 fee (thus preventing the unique experience being amongst the Stones). Druids and pagans were only allowed access on special days provided names and plans of proposed rituals were given to English Heritage one month in advance. However, access to the Stones was given to the Porsche company to advertise the unveiling of a new car at the Stones and the Sergeants of the Duke of Edinburgh's regiment were allowed to assemble there. These were clearly acts of discrimination (Firsoff, 1992).

The Stonehenge Peace Process

The Stonehenge Peace Process was initiated by the Pagan and Druid rights and services group to promote ritual gatherings around the Stones.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission for Stonehenge

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission for Stonehenge group initiated a series of meetings in June 1998 involving members of the Stonehenge Peace Process and the International Institute of Peace Studies and Global Philosophy and were attended by representatives of the Wiltshire police, English Heritage, Home Office, churches in Wiltshire, Druids, pagans, Stonehenge Campaign, the local area and interested others. The gatherings were/are continuing open public forums for discussing the past, present and future of Stonehenge. Many were recorded in video, printed and electronic formats (www.greenleaf.demon.co.uk/trc.htm). Fourteen meetings were held in different Wiltshire villages about once every six weeks over the past three years. Most of the attendees gave their time voluntarily and travelled from all over England. Some meetings lasted many hours and into the evenings.

At first there was deadlock, anger and frustration. The various parties seemed not to want to listen to one another. The chair, Thomas Daffern used a statue of a Greek goddess like a talking stick to enable people to express themselves without interruption. It appeared, at first, as if the parties would never be able to communicate with empathy at all. The process of listening to one another and then in turn hearing the concerns of the bodies of power and authority ie English Heritage and the police. Eventually led to a positive atmosphere in which the decision was take in 2000 to allow access on the night of the Solstice. From an initial position of antagonism, a new spirit of co-operation was instigated, but only through the hard work of the meeting organisers who themselves (George Firsoff and Thomas Daffern) had to learn to cope with competing group interests and rivalries. Some parties refused to come to meetings, so meeting participants went to them to ensure that all voices were heard (Hogan 1999). The arrival of a new Chief Executive of English Heritage was also a factor and the hard work of the English Heritage Community Liaison Officer facilitated a new attitude in the organisation. Change in personnel in the senior ranks of the Wiltshire police also helped to build trust. The previous incumbent was clearly very hostile to what he perceived as deviants in the community (travellers, pagans etc), whereas the new man was an excellent communicator and took a more flexible approach to community policing. This spirit of co-operation led to the instigation of the idea of informal 'Peace Stewards', volunteers who were willing to do what they could to make sure that the terms and conditions set by English Heritage for access were adhered to. The idea of community policing worked well as the Police stood on the fringe for the duration of the night and English Heritage Security staff had little to do. Conflagration was avoided.

ENGLISH HERITAGE

English Heritage was set up in 1984 by Margaret Thatcher's Conservative Government to manage English sites of historical interest as profit making businesses. As current custodians of the site they gambled that opening the site was better than the possibility of a confrontation between the establishment and others who perceive access to Stonehenge as their birthright. Indeed threats for a major conflict were reportedly circulated on the Internet in 1999.

Free access was granted to the Stones between 11.30 pm on Tuesday June 20 to 7.30 am on Wednesday June 21st an enormous concession in the peace process, provided that certain ground rules were adhered to in the vicinity of the Stones, the surrounding landscape and car park. English Heritage staff distributed leaflets outlining the ground rules and containing a map of the Stones and services. The rules included no:
· climbing on Stones (fear of erosion of lichens which protect the Stones from erosion)
· substances or objects which could cause damage to the Stones or ground
· fires or fireworks (safety reasons)
· amplified music (an application from Rinky Dinks who produce low level amplified music by bicycle power was denied). A threat was obtained from one group who threatened to bring amplifiers and create a "Fucking noise".
· camping (due to fear of on-going encampments)
· dogs or other animals (for safety and hygiene reasons)
· bottles or other glass (safety reasons for barefoot revellers and livestock; plastic bottles and drinking containers were provided)
· offensive weapons.

English Heritage arranged for staffing of a large field for parking, (one kilometre from the Stones), portable toilets, a food and drink caravan, and a huge spotlight to illuminate the Stones. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission for Stonehenge organised an information booth.

As this was the first access for many years there were few formal plans as Druids and Pagans were not sure how much ritual the general public would allow and/or find acceptable. There was a sense of 'feeling the way' in order to develop an understanding of the needs of the different celebratory groups. A leading Druid was designated the task of welcoming the sun at 4.55am.

Upholding the ground rules

The ground rules negotiated with English Heritage had to be maintained in some way. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission for Stonehenge trained about thirty "Peace Keepers", and one order of Druids formed a group of "Magic Keepers"; all wore ID badges. Neither group had any legitimate power, only the powers of communication, negotiation and the motivation to make the access a peaceful experience for all concerned. In addition there were representatives of the English Heritage in yellow coats and about sixty police on site (but with back up reinforcements in the Wiltshire lanes nearby). The police located themselves away from the Stones so that the community policing could be used. At dawn a naked man interrupted some of the Druid rituals, but his drunken revelry merely caused cheers and amusement.

Training the Peace Keepers

Volunteers of The Truth and Reconciliation Commission for Stonehenge facilitated two days of workshops and discussion for Peace Keepers. The English Heritage ground rules were openly discussed; some of which were deemed untenable. Phone numbers were circulated of help lines ie police control and English Heritage. Indeed, because of the widespread ownership of mobile phones, members of the crowd and Peace Keepers regularly phoned each other as they lost physical contact in the darkness. The Peace Keepers practised a variety of processes:

1. Centering strategies and silence
The use of mind calming strategies plus clock time (fast speech) versus and charismatic time (slow speech and silence) as intervention techniques (Heron, 1999, Hogan, 1994).

2. Humour
If you come down I'll remember you in my will.

3. Handclapping
Slow handclapping during the inappropriate behaviour

4. Visualisation
Imagining people stopping inappropriate behaviour and/or calming down

5. Town crier
Hear ye, hear ye, I'm here to announce that all this is not necessary*

6. Offering food or flowers
Please take this* Would you like some chocolate?

7. Surrender
OK I obviously can't do anything to stop you, so I'll just sit here and wait for you to stop this behaviour.

8. Note keeping
This is not on so I'll just observe and keep notes on what is happening.

9. Blocking
Standing around the Stones with toeholds to prevent people finding a foothold to climb on.

These strategies and others (cited in the Climbing the Stones section below) were then acted out in role-plays focussing on real potential conflicts. Discussions focussed on the problem of having to change tactics if one approach did not work. Instructions were given to observe carefully any incidents with police and to take ID numbers where necessary. It was a pity that representatives of the Magic Keepers, English Heritage and police were not present at these workshops. But then hopefully that will happen before next years gathering.

SETTING THE SCENE: 20 JUNE 2000

About 6,000 people descended on Stonehenge on the evening of June 20, although 10- 20,000 were the projected figures. The crowd comprised travellers, students, locals, many different druidical orders, travellers, witches, and shamans and healers: a who's who of alternative England. The atrocious weather and a Euro 2000 football game involving England may have accounted for the lower numbers. The weather was bleak and cold, windy, rainy squalls regularly lashed the revellers. Despite this, there was an immediate party atmosphere. The lack of amplified music meant that wandering through the crowds a mixture of traditional music played on Ulliean pipes, saxophones, melodeons, flutes mixed with drumming could be heard. People were dressed in varieties of costumes from the black and white of the druids to cloaks, headdresses, and ornate jewellery. Some carried greenery including mistletoe, others bells and/or ceremonial staves of antlers' horns. This generated a colourful, intimate and medieval ambience.

English Heritage opened up the gates to the Stones early thus preventing a build up of tension around the advertised opening time of 11.30pm. Black bin bags were distributed for rubbish. Many were quickly converted into makeshift raincoats. There were few bag searches and the crowd joyfully paraded under a long archway of branches held aloft by welcoming Druids and pagans greeting all with "Happy Solstice!"

Issues that arose
Incidents occurred much earlier than expected. Members of the peace keeping group were just settling down to catch a few hours sleep around 1pm when the first calls arrived from English Heritage. There was an irate call from a farmer as some people had arrived and parked in his fields. There was a gap in the organisation. The tourist car park at Stonehenge had closed and the designated field for the festival parking and not yet opened. The people happily moved on as soon as the car park was opened.

Parking facilities
Later three travellers' vans were parked in the Stonehenge tourist car park which had been designated for services: police, medics and fire teams. The Peace Keepers introduced themselves and gently confronted the families and empathised with their issues. They had arrived early, fed themselves and their young children and put them to bed and joined in the celebration and started drinking. The Peace Keepers reported this to the police who insisted that the vans had to be removed. A stalemate developed as two vans required sober drivers with heavy goods licenses. The Peace Keepers moved on hoping that the occupants would soon disappear into the enshrouding darkness. The incident died a quiet death.

Animals
On arriving at the designated parking field around 8.00pm, there were already hundreds of cars, vans and traditional style gypsy caravans. There was a carnival atmosphere. One family was offloading horses from a trailer. There was a din of yapping dogs and excited children. Many agreed to leave their dogs behind in vehicles (luckily a two-day heat wave had passed and it was a very cool evening). But the dog issue was hard to overcome as some insisted "I can't leave my dog behind".

Climbing the Stones
At one stage English Heritage representatives escorted one man away from the Stones who had repeatedly tried to climb up them. There was some momentary heckling, and a moment of tension, but most of the crowd was behind the Peace Keepers realising that climbing the Stones was not desirable behaviour. At another time someone attempted to climb up between the Stones. A variety of strategies were used by the Peace Keepers to shift energies out of a cycle of conflict:

1. Polite entreaties
Peacekeeper: Please don't climb the Stones (One person responded to a number of entreaties and changed his mind before starting his ascent answering eventually "Will it really cause a lot of strife? Firm response "Yes").

2. References to overall responsibility
Peacekeeper: Please come down, you'll spoil the event for everyone else. None of us will be able to come back next year if you continue

3. Pointing out about behaviour codes
Peacekeeper: Can't you see this is not respectful behaviour towards the Stones?

4. Asking questions and engaging in conversation
Peacekeeper: Why are you climbing the Stones?
Answer: Access to the Stones is my right
Peacekeeper: Yes, I agree, but it's a privilege to come into a sacred site. There are certain codes of behaviour.

5. Entreaties for co-operation
Peacekeeper: Look we're here to help make sure everything goes OK.
We need to show the authorities that these events will go off OK. If we fail the police will step in. Is that what you really want to happen?

6. Implied threat
Peacekeeper: OK, if you must keep going you must, but look if you continue and we fail to uphold the ground rules, the police will step in, and you will be arrested.

7. Story telling
Peace keeper: Have you heard the story of the realm long ago where one person caused havoc.

Of course not all Peace Keepers or Magic Keepers used peaceful entreaties. One female magic keeper whacked one climber on the bum with her staff and grabbed his foot shouting "Come down you silly bugger" It may not have been text book conflict resolution procedure, but it did incite many of the crowd to use group pressure on the climber and call out for him to descend; and it did eventually have the desired effect.

Around 2.00am there was a perceptible change in the mood of the crowd when spirits seemed to flag as rain, cold and tiredness seemed to dampen the party atmosphere. Around 2.30, fire jugglers provided entertainment in one area and about twenty drummers from The Barking Batteria, from East London helped to revive the flagging energies and dissipate tempers. People started dancing and warmed up.

Ensuring people left at the designated closing time 7.30am
The idea of a 'negotiated' withdrawal from the Stones had been suggested earlier by the Chief of the Wiltshire Police to George Firsoff. (The following is based on an account of events E-mailed to the author by George Firsoff (2000). At 7.30 am, ie the designated closing time, there was a lively, musical 'jam' session involving a young woman on bagpipes, drummers, a Peruvian flute etc. It occurred to George Firsoff that as long as the musician played people would remain. But what if the musicians would lead the withdrawal. He waited until they stopped for a breathing space.

Conversation with piper: George: That was really great*it would be also great if the musicians could lead a procession out of the Stones.

Piper: Why can't we stay here?

George: Well we want to keep to the agreement.

Piper: What was the agreement? (Clearly not everyone knew)

George: Well the agreement is that the Stones will close at 7.30 (it was then 7.25) although there is some flexibility.

Piper: Couldn't we stay another half an hour?

George: Well you could but then there'd be the same problem of getting people to leave. Processions are really magical, what you were doing was magical, you could do it.

The musician took George's hand. George commented I could see it was going to happen.

Within minutes the musicians and about half the crowd left the Stones. Another man started singing "Time to go home" and people continued to trickle towards the gates. About 8.00am the police asked the remaining 20-30 people to leave and they did.

Another potential critical incident was averted. There had been some talk beforehand about a sit-in in the Stones at 7.30. As English Heritage was due to open to the public at 9am this could have been disastrous. However at about 9.15am English Heritage staff reported to their Commissioners in London (whom they had had to persuade to allow the open access) that all had gone well.

RECOGNITION OF PROCESS:

"ENJOY THE JOURNEY" IE THE PROCESS. GANDHI
The success of the public access went a long way to healing the trauma of the past fifteen years. It was pronounced a success by the organising groups and the press, although the ruling on pets, glass and fires were ignored by a tiny minority. (The debriefing meeting will be held in July 2000 after the submission of this article). There were neither arrests nor casualties. The peace process was mainly developed by voluntary efforts. It is a pity that the whole range of news reports cited below missed recording the story of the actual peace process itself, despite the fact that many journalists had been told the story by members of the peace keeping force. Peaceful gatherings do not just happen, we have to work for peace.

Ironically Morris (2000) reported the day before that a project funded with £100,000 of British Lotteries money and aided by 40 volunteers to reinact the dragging of stones the 240 miles from the Preseli Mountains in Wales to Stonehenge had failed despite the use of some modern technology, as the stone sank from a barge into the Severn estuary. It appears a pity that funding appears to be available for 'concrete works' eg a project involving renovating a building or moving a stone. But it appears harder to obtain funds to support the human process of communication and peace making.

What many people did not realise is that the free, joyful, peaceful walk to Stonehenge actually started back in 1985 with hours of discussion, trust building, clarification of meanings, negotiation, patience and perseverance. Money and technology do not necessarily spell success, as the debacle with the stone dragging project indicated. Passion and vision for peace combined with attention to the on-going process of cooperation however, can go a long way to achieving what in 1985 was deemed impossible: open access and peaceful, public solstice celebrations at Stonehenge.

Points for trainers
· There are alternatives to using police authority figures in peace keeping

· The idea of peace keepers/stewards is a powerful concept that may be applied to other crowd management situations eg conferences, festivals, football matches.

· People of different age groups and backgrounds can be trained in peace keeping strategies

· Peace keeping strategies are transferable to many life situations (Daffern, 1999)

· Peace making requires planning and large quantities of time and patience

· All parties need to come to the table and processes need to be built in to enable all groups to be heard

· If some parties do not come to the table moves should be made to interview those parties to find out why they will not attend; when and how they would attend and their issues.

References
Daffern, T. (1999) Peacemaking and peacebuilding. In Encyclopedia of violence, peace and conflict. Vol 2: 755770. Academic Press. San Francisco.

de Bruxelles, S. (2000) 'Modern pagans reclaim Stonehenge'. The Times. 22 June:13

Firsoff, G. (2000) Urgent feedback please E-mail to Christine Hogan [On line] 2 July. Available E-mail: Hoganc@cbs.curtin.edu.au [2000, July 2]

Firsoff, G (1992) Why we need Stonehenge: A history of workshop and celebration. An address given in Salisbury , Witney and London in 1992.

Heron, J. (1999) The complete facilitator's handbook. Kogan Page. London.

Hogan, C. F. (1999) Report for The Truth and Reconciliation Commission for Stonehenge based on a special interview on issues of the travelling community with Mickey James. Stratford Manor Park. London.

Hogan, C. F. (1994) Using charisma to enhance your personal communication and leadership style. Training and Management Development Methods. Vol 8 No 3 pp 3.31-3.43.

Morris, L. (2000) Sunk like a stone. Daily Mail. 20 June: 3

O'Neill (2000) Druids fail to see the light at Stonehenge. The Daily Telegraph. 22 June:4.

Vidal, J. (2000) The weird and wonderful return to get stoned at Stonehenge. The Guardian. 22 June:7

Wilson, C. (2000) Solstice at the Stones. Daily Mail 22 June: 13.

For further information:
Website http://www.greenleaf.demon.co.uk/padras.htm

Thomas Daffern, Chair, Truth and Reconciliation Commission for Stonehenge
iipsgp@claraa.net

George Firsoff, Secretary, Truth and Reconciliation Commission for Stonehenge
george@greenleaf.demon.co.uk

Click on to SW Faiths menu