Wednesday July 16th 2003

Present
George Firsoff (Secretary)
Tim Abbott
Mark Chatterton (Police Commander Andover)
Nora Morris (secretary, Peace Stewards)
Michael Brown (National Trust)
Andy Pulham (Peace Steward)
Kasia Morris
Roy Gillett

arrived later:
Dizzy Marsh
Paul Aitken

Reports back
Jerry Wickham, Police Commander Salisbury, had written to say he was very happy with how the Solstice had gone, said Tim. It had been the most difficult year we were likely to face, as well as being a weekend, there was controversy about which dawn was appropriate, and rumours of protests circulated on the internet. George had not been there, but everyone remarked to him how mellow the access had been, he said. Kasia said the move to daytime access had clearly been a successful one.

Exactly 31,048 had passed through the turnstiles, although a few more had come over fences. The minority of troublemakers were an even smaller proportion of the increasing crowd, Tim observed. The stones had been opened one hour early at about 1AM, and although people had been waiting to go in, they had not been vociferous. The pressure within the stones had decreased during the morning said Roy. Indeed 8,000 people had left after witnessing the dawn.

How full was the carpark? asked Tim. Apparently not completely full. He speculated that numbers might start to level off in 2004, seeing the Solstice falls on a Monday morning. So far the numbers have increased linearly, by 7-8 thousand like clockwork every year.

At this point we welcomed Dizzy, then Paul to the meeting.

Paul remarked that his survey of the media included reports in The New York Times that MOD police were deployed. Mark reported Hampshire police had prepared to deal with trespass, with special reference to Barton Stacey former airfield, hence MOD police were on standby. An attempt at a rave in the New Forest was not necessarily related to people at Stonehenge. Tim remarked that for the first time in 29 years regional TV had not mentioned the Solstice at Stonehenge - a trouble free gathering apparently not being news. There were reported to have been 10 arrests in all.

Andy reported becoming involved moving people out of the trench where they were asleep, as the Kings Drummers procession approached. This was to be noted for the future. Mike said the National Trust was also very pleased, fewer people had tried pitching tents and lighting fires on the land than usual. They had counted 2,500 walkers using the walkway to approach from the Kings Barrows. Just before the stones were opened numbers had built up in the field, causing some concern about an occupation with camping, but this was solved when the stones were open. Some of the walkers had come from pubs in Amesbury, and crossing of the A303 to get to the walkway, was a serious danger. There followed some discussion about whether this threat could be dealt with by a temporary bridge, or traffic calming measures.

Paul noted that cows had celebrated on top of the barrows. Although normally fenced off, said Mike, this depended on stock numbers.

Traffic
George opened this topic by noting some concern before the Solstice about queues, with people arriving early to make sure they got in to the carpark in time. Tim said better road signing was needed. There had been long queues, and two accidents had contributed to the delays, causing many to park up on the grass verge so as not to miss the access. These were clamped and towed away, and had to be redeemed from a police pound, about 120 in number, Tim thought. The A303 is a freeway with no stopping allowed. Even so, signing to indicate the tow-away policy was appropriate.

There was a much heavier approach to clearing the carpark said Paul, with police coming up to state there was a trespass, more than 6 vehicles etc. instead of gently leading in to a clearance. There was much anxiety about an alleged campaign to hang on for Saturday night, said Tim.

Early opening of the carpark would help alleviate the pressure. There were two gates that could be used on the A344 said Nora, and indeed it appeared there is a third on the A360, which might be appropriate as an exit. It was reducing the pressure, a quick in and out, that was the issue, concluded Paul.

Timing for 2004
National Trust favoured an early opening of the stones for next year. As far as was known, it was very likely this years timings would be repeated.

Shuttlebus
Kasia raised the issue of transport from Salisbury, so people could come by train, or park and ride. A bus running from Salisbury railway station and main car park, 11PM-3AM and returning 6AM-2PM might be appropriate. This needs exploring in detail.

Spontaneous entertainments
George wanted to know if there had been an increase in this kind of activity, following a lot of promotion by newsgroups etc. Roy said, not particularly. People had accumulated round the braziers, for warming. George said he had no reply from English Heritage about his request for a "Point of Presence" consisting of a manual stand to take a flagpole to focus interest. It was his hope that every interest group should have a POP to co-ordinate their members.

Would the National Trust consider allowing braziers? Mike stated this was not ruled out. George said groups of 20-100 should approach the National Trust to negotiate their legitimate activities on a case-by-case basis. This followed his own experience in which a procession and gathering of up to 200 had been authorised in writing. It was a matter of talking to the Trust and making friends with them. Kasia approved, saying face to face dialogue was most important. Mike commented that the Trust hoped to encourage legitimate use of the land.

Tim said he had a dream to completely clear the stones for the celebration of the dawn in some future year. Roy commented that his much more modest proposals to create a "flow" through the Stones hadn't worked. George said he still hoped that by encouraging groups to form, and start attractive activities outside the circle, this would reduce the pressure within the stones.

Behaviour and security
A group of young children were reported to be rampaging, trying to overturn the toilets. Some security were observed by English Heritage staff to have been very "off-hand" in dealing with the public. Tim suggested that it could be local people, and EH and NT members volunteering for duty. Mike was critical of English Heritage's hired stewards, he said the Trust worked on gaining respect by taking to people. Some guards were sacked for "showing off their muscles" while off duty, said Andy.

Paul raised the issue of "convergence" of police and security. Instead of there being a "hierarchy" of interest with police being brought in only when required, both had been seen at the gates, looking very similar in their yellow jackets. It was not clear why this had happened. Brian has two stories of violence/unfair treatment said George, but he expected Brian would tell these stories to the Round Table.

Peace Stewards
Nora confirmed that 40 had registered, but of these 20 were dancers, who had not attended the traning camp or briefings, but had turned up later. This was hardly adequate, to make an impact in a crowd of 30,000. Nora agreed 300 would be desirable. They were most useful before the stones opened, and at the close, said Roy. George asked if they had intervened in incidents of climbing the stones. The media had been informed not to photograph the climbers. Unfortunately there had been TV footage. This would be taken up with the firm concerned.

George pressed the issue, saying in 2002 he had observed all the medium level stones that could be sat or stood on were occupied and English Heritage security had given up, saying "they had lost control of the centre of the stones." He was informed that this year, all the medium level stones were occupied.

Next Meeting
George proposed to convene again in mid September.