Mass, Ross and myself, ready for a Friday night out. Photographer;Dave

Saturday morning, June 21st; officially the longest day. It didn’t disappoint that’s for sure.

I was awoken at 6.45 am by people talking very loudly outside my tent. I couldn’t understand the reason for the volume because there were no other sounds to shout above, except for the odd Blackbird chirping away in the background. The distinct lack of sleep and post real ale hangover meant that my tolerance levels were considerably lower than normal. As a general rule on a run of the mill day they usually run at zero, so now we were into serious meltdown territory, but the smell of the coffee brewing nex door managed to appease me and thoughts turned to that first life support machine cuppa. I unfurled myself out of my cramped nylon Aga and greeted the morning sunlight with a weary, fuzzy feeling through screwed up eyes. Today was only going to be half a day because I had double booked a date with Billy Bragg in Holmfirth, which was a shame in one way; I would have liked to have spent another full day at the festival, but another part of my brain was telling me that I was not 21 anymore and a third night of Olympic drinking and Endurance non sleeping was not in the best interests of anyone.

Business was slow and it took a while for the arena to fill up, probably due to the excess partying that had taken place into the early hours, but just after lunch things were getting very busy. the weather was once again behaving itself and so was I because I had to drive back home later that afternoon for my rendezvous with Mr. Bragg. Ross came over as did Mass and Dave whom I had also befriended yesterday. Mass was the DJ from the first night and his knowledge of the original ska and reggae genre was encyclopaedic, plus he was actually playing vinyl with ONE deck only, unlike the headline act from Friday night who was just pretending to knob twiddle to a pre-recorded set (alledgedly). Another few books sold and it was time to pack up and leave the festival. Dave, Mass and Ross all helped me get my wares into the van and by 4.00pm everything was done. I donated my open plan gazebo to Mass and thanked them all for their help and company over the preceding few days. Rick and the boys came by on their way to the beer tent, looking a little delicate but they were going to soldier on until Sunday. I thanked them again for their hospitality and then I was off, like a dog in the fog, disappearing into the sunlight leaving a dusty haze behind.

All I can say was that it was a great experience; really chilled out festival, everyone was there for the music and beer and I would recommend Willowman to anyone, it was brilliant. Next up, Rebellion!

G.

I went to sleep in a fridge and woke up in an oven. Fully clothed and dehydrated I risked one eye outside the tent and saw that it was a beautiful morning. 4 hours sleep is not a great start but it was to be the norm I’m afraid, self regulation where alcohol and music is concerned is not my strongest subject. After a slow start on the stall people began to filter into the main arena  as this was the first day that the bands would fire up at lunchtime. Had a few enquiries, and a couple of bites but standing up all day is tiring, but luckily my new festival buddy Ross came over to look after my stall in true Eastenders fashion while I nipped off to the coffee van.

But Ross and I had other ideas and after much deliberating on what would be a reasonable but not desperate time to commence drinking, we decided on p.m. So at one second past 12 Ross popped to the bar for some liquid inspiration. Soon, the prototype t-shirts had been sold and several books followed. we decided that perhaps another round would keep the sales bouyant, so we imbibed in another to test our theory. Mmm perhaps it was coincidence because only one more sale was made before Ross went for a kip and I packed up the stuff and deposited it in my one man tent. Except now it was only habitable to Warwick Davis because of the clutter in there. Soon hunger began to get the better of me so I decided to try out a burger with hot chilli sauce, if only for the side effects of central heating later on in my now critically cosy accomodation.

When I came back Ross was there and he was clearly over exuberant to the point of bursting. “You’ll never guess who I have just been talking to”  he gushed. “Yeah I’ve just seen Ruffy and the boys, they’ve had a really crap day so I just left the book and a t-shirt with him, was he soundchecking?” I replied.

It was then that he showed me the photo he had just taken with the person in question. My gast was well and truly flabbered by the digital image in front of me, and while my Iris was calculating the enormity of the information Ross blurted out, ” It’s only Rick fuckin’ Buckler”!! Indeed it was Rick fuckin’ Buckler; The man who had inspired me to get into a band in the first place and was one third of arguably the greatest band to come out of the punk era The Jam. Here! Now! In the beer tent! I controlled myself and brushed off the tiny patch of wee that had secreted on to my trousers and made for the tent. He had to have a book whether he wanted one or not. As luck would have it was he very obliging and friendly, and after watching Ruts DC deliver a blistering set, and after I wished Ruffy the best,( as he was going straight back to his digs on his own due to another gig with another band the following day), we reconvened at the bar and who should walk back in but Rick and his mates Julian and John.

We left at about 3.00am after drinking the bar dry of Stella and some of the weirdly strong beers. Ross started to drink what was supposed to be Cider, but looked and tasted like it had travelled unopposed through the urinatory tracts of the whole of the bar staff, and back into the barrel from where it was being poured. Complete with sediment! During the evening 3 very drunk women came over to us and decided that Rick was famous and asked him if he was in Emmerdale!! He politely said no, but we all chipped in that he was to be seen regularly in Holby City. We eventually put them out of their misery but it was very funny.

So there ended a most surreal day. It was back home to a very full fridge.

Arrived on Thursday just before lunch. Met Charlotte at the gate who was very helpful and presented and fitted me with my festival wristband. Every time I saw her after that she seemed to be getting more hassle from all sides. Weather was great and after being shown to my ‘pitch’ I started to unload the van and begin the daunting process of erecting my recently acquired gazebo. Started off like a train and was soon getting the hang of it and within 15 minutes the frame was taking shape nicely. it was then that things started to go awry, and as I stood back to admire my magnificent erection it was then that I noticed that I had 2 poles still lying unused on the floor. The instructions didn’t mention anything about any spare parts, so after surveying the basic diagram on the screwed up piece of paper it seemed that I needed to extend the depth of the construction with the orphaned poles. Okay now we are back in business and time to put the roof on. With no instructions whatsoever and the wind picking up the swearing started. With the fabric roof piece flying about more than a gymnast’s ribbon I was beginning to feel suicidal/psychopathic at the lack of progress and to add fuel to the fire there were now people beginning to turn up and look around. In the end I ditched the sides and just ended up with an open plan design instead.
But the position was superb, in full view of the main stage and right next to the beer tent and the toilets, so not far to walk from one to the other (several times). After my stressful day which continued with every sudden gust of wind it was time for a drink. The sounds emanating from the tent were coming from the single deck of DJ Mr.Mass and he was superb. at the end of his set he managed to squeeze in some Ruts and Clash Punky Reggae tunes. also met Ross who stood out to me because of his Red Dr. Martens complete with yellow laces. That was the starting point of the conversation and an hour later at 1 am it was time to retire for the night to get ready for the first day of hopefully one or two sales. Goodnight