My Glastonbury 2024: Part 2, Flame Of Hope.

It was Wednesday morning at Glastonbury, the sun was shining, and all was good down on Worthy Farm. At 8.00 the gates were opened, and Emily Eavis was there to welcome thousands of excited campers to Glastonbury. Many had slept in their cars outside all night in order to be near the front of the queue. At 10.00 I grabbed my litter picking stick, water bottle and little backpack and made my way to the office to meet the rest of Red Greenfields team. 

Millies Team.

I was pleased to see that lots of familiar faces had returned. As well as Peter & Helen, there was Miranda & Ulli, two Petes, Becky, Amanda, Andrew and many more. (I am useless at remembering names). Everyone cheered when Millie appeared as our leader again. In the 19 years I have been on the recycling crew I think Millie is the best team leader of all. After roll call we all set off down Muddy Lane following Millie. The first job was to go outside Gate B and pick up any rubbish along the queue. It wasn’t hard work because people are getting the message LOVE THE FARM, LEAVE NO TRACE. The only problem was it got a bit gruelling in the afternoon walking in the hot sun. I was glad I had my hat on and had slapped on plenty of suncream. We ended the morning back at base for lunch, and in the afternoon visited areas of the site even I had never seen before. Becky was really good fun; she is a huge fan of David Bowie and we passed the time while working by asking each other quiz questions about David Bowie. By the end of the shift I was calling her Dave 😊. Finally, Millie announced that all areas were complete for the day, gave us our meal tickets and told us to meet at the Greenpeace tree at 6.00 Friday morning.

Berna, Gretta, Peter, Emer, Paul, Me, Helen.

That evening it was great to see that Gretta’s sister Berna had arrived from Ireland. Also wonderful to meet up with fellow Van Morrison fan Emer from Dublin. A gang of us made our way to the Acoustic Stage crew bar for a couple of hours. Although the music on the main stages didn’t begin until Friday there was plenty of entertainment going on all over the site. At 10.30 there was to be a display by hundreds of drones. The best place to view it was said to be the Pyramid Stage field which was packed with about 100,000 people. I watched from the back of the hill. It was an awesome, but short display. The drones spelled out GLASTONBURY, LOVE & the PEACE sign in the sky. It must have been visible for miles around. I was hungry after that and bought a vegetarian burrito which was delicious. On the way home I met Odele and we arranged to meet at the Peace Garden in the morning at 11.00. I was in bed by midnight. and soon fell fast asleep.

Emily receives peace flame.

There was no work for me on Thursday, so I set off on another long slow walk to Kings Meadow and the Peace Garden where there was to be an opening ceremony and group meditation. This area is perfect for a spot of mindfulness far from the madding crowd. A few people had already arrived and I was pleased to meet up with Chris Bullzini who performed on the highwire last year under the name ‘The Great Bullzini’. This year he was part of the peace ceremony. The poet Louise Stewart Daisy (Pure LSD) was also there with her children. She said she remembered me from last year which was nice. I sat under the shade of a tree and wrote notes to remind myself of all I had done so far until Odele arrived. The ceremony opened with a Japanese Buddhist band whose name I think translates as ‘Flame Of Hope’. 

Chris Bullzini.

It seems strange to see Buddhist monks with shaved heads playing electric guitars, but the music was like a sound meditation, beautiful. There were also native Mexican singers and musicians there. The most moving part for me was short speeches by Israeli and Palestinian peace activists calling for peace in Gaza. It is a very sobering thought that while we are enjoying ourselves at Glastonbury insane wars continue in the world. Emily Eavis was there to accept the peace flame which was lit from an eternal flame in Hiroshima Japan. Emily reminded us that Glastonbury has always been a peace festival. On the Saturday a seven-minute silence for peace was observed on the Pyramid field led by Serbian performance artist Marina Abramovic.

Odele suggested that we go to the nearby Hare Krishna tent for lunch. In all the years of going to Glastonbury I had only visited them once previously and hadn’t been impressed. This year I found the food delicious, beautiful vegetable curry and rice, a refreshing slice of watermelon, a banana, and an apple juice drink. It was great. There is no cost, you just give a donation of what you think is appropriate. I wish more of the food outlets had the same ethical attitude as the Hare Krishnas. I always enjoy the Thursday morning meetups with Odele at Glasto, but after that we went our own ways. As with last year I headed for the bandstand where an old friend Tony Carter always plays at 2.00 on Thursday with his folk duo Hodmadoddery. After a quick little chat with Tony I headed back to Tom’s field and had a much needed shower to freshen up for the evening.

Thursday evening is the recycling crew’s party which Michael Eavis used to always attend to thank the workers for their efforts, but sadly these days he has had to cut back on what he can do. This year was a bit special because Fiona who has organised the recycling for two decades is retiring, and her son Jake who was her right-hand man is also stepping down. Fiona is a great lady who really cares about her workers. She will be missed, but I’m sure Bronwen and the rest of her team will carry on the good work in the same spirit as Fiona. After the speeches and presentations there was a band performing, but I didn’t stay for that as I had to be up for work at 5.00. Tomorrow the music would begin on the main stages, and what a day it would turn out to be.

To be continued……………………………..