TalkAwhile - The Folk Corporation Forum

Following comments on the 2013 line up thread I just thought it would be good to chronicle some of the special memories of Cropredy from people on this site.
Try and remember the more 'off the wall stories.'
I had been to  a couple of Cropredys in the 80's. Following a divorce I met Sheen in '95 and friends invited us to Cropredy . We slept in their caravan awning in the Caravan field.
Over the next year we made new friendships and found ourselves being invited to join the Glooston Convoy ( 12 people at the time).
So 96 we arrived at Cropredy Field 2 and just followed our friends routine. Tents/campervans in a crcle around a gazebo/village hall table, candelabra, gnomes,toilet tent, white picket fencing!
It was a 2 day fest then, so s gentle Thursday. Pitch a tent, beers on the gravestones, dingbats from the canoe club, get a prog.

I forget the yr but still 90's. one morning we were cooking breakfast, a communal activity, when this bloke wandered through our 'camp' killing a gnome and disrupting the 'Keep of the grass'(!) sign
He was Australian and had flown across specially to meet his sister and do Cropredy. So we called him Sydney (see what we did there) kidnapped him and cooked him breakfast and obviously offered beer and chardonnay. He helped to wash up, we talked music, played cricket (cropredy ashes) and 3 hrs later his sister came looking for him. He blamed being jet lagged.
 Perhaps not a great story but 15 ish yrs later we still wonder if 'Sydney' still does cropredy and it epitomises field 2 cropredy for me in the late 90's and that big village fete feel to the fest.
Ok chaps, let's have your stories. There's a book in this. 'Cropredy by Talkawhile'

Soon as I think of something that doesn't put me in an even worse light on here I'll get back to you.   :-\

Oh come on. Just give us a decent drinking story ;D

I'm sure there are plentybut the first one that comes to mind is from my first Cropredy in 1991. It was not only my first Cropredy but my first festival at the grand old age of 27 and I was very excited. I had only fairly recently discovered Fairport and Richard Thompson who was also on the bill that year. I attended with my brother and I remember it was a hot Friday morning as we drove up from his place in Kent.

Obviously everything about the Cropredy experience was magical to me but the thing I remember most was wandering over to the arena. The music started late on the Friday afternoon in those days and the field was not very crowded at the start of procedings. Nevertheless we sat down next to a young couple (on the ground. This was pre chairs/sciatica/eating all the pies). Almost as soon as we had sat down the girl next to me turned to me and said, "Don't I know you? Weren't you at Bulmershe?"

Bulmershe was a college in Reading from which I had graduated 5 years previously. As it happens we didn't really know each other but she had remembered me from around the campus. A true "small world" moment made more so by the fact that the very first people I bumped into on the field the following year, without any contact in between, were the same couple.

Yes, let's keep this going. Great stories Dave and Al.  :)

I think these will stand as memories...from 1983, I have just started looking through a whole box of photographs...mainly of my artwork and some of which I scanned about an hour ago...Among the prints of my artwork I came upon a modest number of images...Fairport, Fairport with John Benns (I think) and Whippersnapper.

[Photo over 400 days old. Removed by Admin.]

I promise I won't do lots but.......
I have a running joke with a friend who 'smoked' at the time. We had been standing watching the stage for 25 mins, from  just to left of the sound tower, level with the top of the bar.
She says ,'when is Ralph (Mc Tell) coming on?
I say,'He's just doing his fifth song'.

I will never forget sticking my head out of the tent first thing on the Sunday morning in 1979 and being nose to nose with a rather startled cow! (I wasn't exactly unsurprised myself  ;D)

I have a friend who I meet up with every year, and each year our initial meeting on the Thursday has been an awesome story.

2009- The first year we met. We had been talking to each other via YouTube comments and messages, and he suggested we meet up at the festival. The only problem was, the only video on his channel with him actually in it was framed in such a way that he looked really tall. He also had long hair in the video, and I knew he was only a year younger than me so I was looking for a tall guy with long hair about my age. Turned out it wasn't the case at all. He was shorter than me and had just had his hair cut, luckilly he recognised me from my videos (Ironically, he now has long hair again and is taller than me).

2010- I always go for the meet up at the pavilion at 12 on the Thursday, so I told him that's where we should meet. Upon arrival, the pavilion was absolutely packed with people, and I thought Oh no, I'm never gonna find Matt...unless that's him laying on the floor playing Ukulele of course...

2011- One of his group that he goes with had a bad back, and they were able to get on the field on the Wednesday night with a disabled pass. So I told him which gate we would be arriving at on Thursday morning, and he came and waited for us. While he was waiting, someone stopped to ask him something thinking he was a steward, so he decided to just go with it and pretend he was. Which explained why, when I arrived, he was standing at the gate directing traffic.

2012- Probably my favourite one. His lot normally camp in field 6 and we usually camp in field 2, however this year we decided we were going to camp in field 6 as they give you more space (we had not previously been given room to put our awning up), so I told Matt that we might be joining his lot, and so we didn't make any meet up plans. As we arrived on Thursday morning, we realised we didn't know which gate to turn off at the get to field 6, so we went the usual way and ended up on field 1. I was just getting out of the car, and I was getting my phone out to ring him and tell him where we were, and his lot pulled in right next us. Completely unplanned.

Sorry that was a bit long, but as you can see out meet-ups are never just ordinary. I can't wait to see how we meet up this year :D

Although I went to a few early 80s festivals in my teens, lack of money/work pressures/holiday plans etc etc  meant I didn't start going to festivals again until the mid 2000s.

Even then, Cropredy always seemed to clash with my partner's carefully planned holiday schedules. So it wasn't until 2010 that we actually made it to Cropredy and it's meant we were either arriving at Cropredy on the way back from our holiday destination or dropping in on the way there.

In 2011, having stayed up til the early hours drinking and chatting with Norwegian Hells Angels on a ferry back from Denmark (everyone else on the ferry seemed to go off to bed early..), we then had a race against time to get off the ferry, drive to Oxfordshire, get on site, get wristbands etc before Fairport Acoustic came on stage. I remember standing at the front of the stage with five minutes to spare thinking "made it."

Listening to the Friday part of the total history year half way up the field with a somnabulant Mrs. Skirky and hmulley, chomping on doughnuts donated by a kindly passer-by when the former stirred just as The Guvnor announced "...and now we come to 1969". "Oh, **** me, is that all we're up to?" she muttered, before rolling over and catching another forty winks.  ;D

Many,but the one that always pops in to my head first is 1993 sitting with the lovely Mrs K. Listening to The Fallen Angels singing "The green rolling hills of West Virginia" in the sunshine thinking that in 4 months (or so) our firstborn would be saying hello and life was pretty special. :-D

Yes, similar to the "When's Ralph on?" situation, I was very impressed one year to be stood standing with Justine listening to Andy Fairweather Lowe performing "Wide-Eyed and Legless" with Fairport. Just at that moment, a young toper who was, coincidentally, in exactly the same condition as the title of the song, barged against us, quite accidentally and harmlessly. He then apologised and focused on the stage. "That's a good rip-off", he said. "Didn't think Simon could sing like that" then wandered off into the darkness....!

My first Cropredy was 1984 - My wife and I were living in Cornwall at the time and had stopped the night before at my brother's house in Coventry, as he and his family were coming as well.  So we had a few refreshments at his house and got up on the Friday late morning with the mother and father of hangovers. We got to the festival and pitched the tents as best we could and thought a hair of the dog would be in order.  Long story, but my brother and I ended up going back to the tents for a few minutes sleep. We ended up missing the entire evening and were suitably chastened on the Saturday morning.... Didn't stop us going back to the bar though!

Bootleg Beatles in the absolute tipping it down rain,dancing like a mad thing and watching the raindrops caught in the spotlights & twinkling!  :)

We took a couple of young (early 20's) cropredy Virgins with us when it was a 2 day fest. They threw themselves in to getting v relaxed at the Lion and then on filed 2 on the Thurs. They made it to the stage field early evening on the Saturday.

Lovely thread this!
I still get a tingle when I remember walking onto the field for the first time in 2004. I had a kiss and an autograph from Ric for being a Cropredy Virgin, and we saw so many shooting stars that first night I wondered if we'd wandered into a kind of parallel universe!
We somehow sit near the same family every year - a few months ago we saw them in Cardiff so turns out they're local to us at home too!
I couldn't hold it any longer during one FC set just as they started singing Red and Gold so I stumbled my way thru the crowd to the loo, standing on the foot of one Ralph McTell who was gently singing along......
Robert Plant coming on the stage to sing Battle of Evermore  :P wow
Meeting TAWs at the bar, the cricket club, the pubs, in fact near anywhere selling alcohol!  ::)
Drinking cider with breakfast whilst we watch everyone struggle with their tents (sorry!)
Making friends. We always chat to those around us, and we've met some lovely and interesting people over the years. Particularly remember a chap camped next to us who told us about his idyllic life in Cornwall. A man completely at ease with life!
Chatting to Nick Reg for about an hour and not knowing who it was until we arrived back. Doh!

I did manage to over-refresh one Cropredy regular (that is 'on-stage' regular, no names, no pack drill!!!) about 5 or 6 years ago.  Having been in our company the previous day he was feeling a little worse for wear when he awoke and staggered over to our wagon at the crack of 1300hrs on the Friday afternoon.  We opened a litre of Smirnoff which we both scoffed with pomegranate juice.  Then he went back to bed at around 4pm.  That was his Friday at Cropredy!!

This sounds a bit like an obit column but here goes!

Can't remember the exact year but it was a hot sunny one at the turn of the century!

We arrived at aprox 10am and drove straight onto field 2. We were a few rows from the front and were pleased to see a mini 6x bar set up at the front of the field! 
We agreed the last tent up would buy the beer and after a few obligatory 'getting it up' , 'erection' and 'pole' jokes got to work. Hubby and I had a traditional frame type tent but there were two of us so we made good progress. Our friend Glen had a dome tent which he had used many times before. The poles were ready attached and you had to just grab the top of the tent pull it up and it all fell into place a bit like putting up an upside down umbrella. We were not hopeful of victory against this modern upstart!
We finished our tent and turned round to see Glen still scratching his head surrounded by tent material. Hubby went to help and for some reason they decided that the problem was the attached poles had been 'tampered' with since the last time it had been used and proceeded to remove  and rearrange them! In the meantime the sun was climbing in the sky and the temperature rose. I noticed that the friendly banter had stopped and tempers were starting to fray. I made an executive decision and magnanimously wandered over to the aforementioned mini bar and purchased the aforementioned first round! 
Once this was consumed Glen decided the tent was beyond saving. He was going to sleep in the f***ing car. He grabbed the tent ( this time with a different handful of material ) ready to throw it in the skip and the poles gracefully untangled themselves and the tent erected itself! 
We stopped laughing when we heard cheers and a round of applause. We turned round fully expecting a celeb to be wandering through the campsite only to discover we had been the source of the mornings entertainment! Bows were taken and I was dispatched to the mini bar to purchase a victory round! ( unfair me thinks ) and another splendid Festival was well and truly under way.

Worst memory...  Sitting in the middle of the field enduring THAT thunderstorm... 2009?

 I was a bit of a wimp there ...  :o

Best memory..  Being there for the very first time in 1990 and immediately realising that this is the place I want to be every year...  I was drawn into the surreal magic straight away.... :) :-*
(And happy to say that the magic has never left me)

It can sound a bit strange  can't it Jenny but Cropredy Fest has always had a magical quality for me. Going regularly coincided with new relationship, new friends and without being too glib a new life. Special place.
We go to Cropredy for the Oxford Arts Open Studios and just enjoy a day in the village. Great being able to go into some of the houses and just meet people/artists who live there. A couple of fabulous houses by the canal have some interesting stuff.l
Cropredy studios are open 18th to 27th May this year. 

I loved that! Although I was worried about people with poles attached to their seats .....

I enjoyed it too but I think it required a lot of alcohol to make it fun rather than a soggy nightmare...

A couple of really wet years.
1999 I think when Barrage were on and there was a year when I really wanted to watch Julie Fowlis's Bodhran player. Sheena and everyone else from our group were back at the tents and I got very very wet and cold watching a stunning solo, horizontal rain!
We vaguely remember a year when RT was on, Sheen and I were down the front, it was very wet we turned round and it was, sadly, a very empty field.

2010 wasn't it? I was trying to sleep and not succeeding much with all the racket.
I believe that in 2009 no rain fell at Croppers at all during opening hours on any of the three days.

We mentioned one drinking story on here a couple of years ago and were told off by the boss and all the posts relating to it were deleted.  :-[
So I think I silence is best.  ;D

Depends on the story I suppose.
'Keep it clean, keep it fresh, keep it fragrant.'

Trying to sleep during Sat night's Fairport set?..

Why???

Well..........I was tired.  ;D
Also have to admit I was bored, it was the year of that folk opera thing and really wasn't my scene at all.
Still think of it as my favourite Croppers though, the thursday and friday were great days. Little Feat, The Leatherats, Selecter, Quo, LJE, 3DM, Dixie Bee Liners - brilliant.
Hope I have the year right or I will feel a right dunderhead.  :)

It was the Rick Wakeman year...  Can't be arsed to go and check...  But theyvwerevdoingbExcalibur during the storm!

It has to be the Liege and Lief set.

I never thought I'd get to hear it played through.

And hearing Yusuf play 'Peace Train' was very special, too.

Hearing Robert Plant sing live for the very first time...........

The first time I experienced "Meet on the Ledge"

Horslips !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Too many and too personal but for the group of mates that I have been to Cropredy witgh over the years the phrases:

"Purple potatoes
What's a surrealist
Don't talk about the f.....g Leningrad Cowboys"

all cause tears of laughter and looks of bemusement from onlookers.

Musically, hearing Percy, discovering the wonderful BNC, seeing Trevor Lucas with the chaps just once, the year Tear Stained Letter went on for what seemes like hours, childhood heroes Squeeze, and the first band I ever saw in that field La Rue - wonder what ever happened to them.

DW

1979 - shedding a tear at the end of what we thought was Fairport's last ever gig...

Every Cropredy since - meeting friends old & new, bumping into people I didn't even know went to Cropredy, hearing music I didn't know I liked, drinking lots of good beer, the stalls in the village, smiles, the occasional duff act, the w**ther...  

A lot of my best memories involve me and my aforementioned friend Matt doing this:

[Photo over 400 days old. Removed by Admin.]

Obviously one of the highlights of Cropredy is sitting in the Hughes' Arms, talking b*****ks to an international standard.

Memorably in 2007 David declared "Giveway, that is a c**p name for a band" and then proceeded to suggest a far more colourful alternative for the Johnson sisters.

Before anybody could stop us, we had invented an entire back story and discography for this group and the more of Cocker's rum we drank, the funnier it got.

I've only been to Cropredy four times - 91, 92, 02 and 04. 91 was with my schoolfriend in the summer before we both went to Uni. First festival for both of us and we just did the Saturday only. Some good turns, I think RT and Jerry guested but no Swarb was a bit of a disappointment. I do remember falling in love with Julianne Regan though! 91 was quite early in my Fairport 'education', so some of the RT and Sandy (solo) songs were wasted on me as I had yet to explore all the musical branches of the Fairport Family tree (an ongoing project to this day!). In 92 we were there for the Friday as well. Seeing the Full House line up for the first time was a treat, and also the surviving members of L+L, and I still have the cheer ringing in my ears from when Robert Plant took the stage. Metal Matty was ace too. The CD of that year's festival gets played quite often, some great performances, and Chris Leslie did a sterling job dep-ing for Ric!

10 years later me and same schoolfriend attended the 35th anniversary in 2002 and it was really then that I got some idea of Cropredy's attraction or USP (music and beer aside), because stepping onto that field after a 10 year gap felt like returning home in a strange way, or a home from home, or just a sense of belonging. I dunno, but it was a special moment. And you can just about see me and my mate in the crowd shot on the inlay of the double CD of that year's festival. Which is nice.

I really should attend again one day....

Now, as I was just saying to Robert Plant, this is what we want. The 'boss' is bringing in a whole new level of quality name dropping. (and has earned 2 additional points for his team)

Obviously have only been to the one, but meeting so many of you nice folks (and recognizing many more that I didn't talk to). Somebody said this at the time on here when I gave my own reports, that I must have been destined to have a great time because things happened to me seemingly that hadn't happened to veterans of years and years. (I don't know, maybe they were just being nice!). I chalk it up to moving around so much because I was just so excited to see everything I had read about for years- the bar, Leon's, Jonah's Oak, the bar, the village, the bar, the Brasenose, the Red Lion, the bar....and it goes on and on.

But back to the memories-
Meeting Simon and Peggy
Ric complementing me on my hat from behind the fence
Buying some merch in the tent and on chatting with her about it being my first she raises her voice slightly to a person unseen behind me and says-hey Chris, its his first Cropredy. Turn around to see Chris Leslie and his wife greeting me warmly
Having a nice little chat with Steve Gibbons after complementing him on the Dylan Project set.
Literally almost bumping into The Coral with some food, as they were hiking up the field in search of some as well. Hard for me to decipher the singers accent but he said something like "S'alright, its nice here innit."
Scanning the crowd to realize standing to the side of me was Ralph Mctell watching and singing along to The Dylan Project.
Having a nice chat with Dave Burn from Ahab, asking me where I had come from
Meeting lots of lovely people, strangers who bought me drinks on finding out I was a Cropredy virgin, and being invited to join a boisterous group of folks for Fairport's set, and sharing their strange concoctions in water bottles. Ok truth be told it was the McBastards, and I dont really know the deal, but they treated me as one of their own and sang along to every Fairport song.
Just chilling out, with great beer and listening to great music.
I must also add (sorry this is so long) that honorable mention has to go to Nick, for greeting a befuddled New Yorker, stepping off the bus at the Brase with my backpack and trying not to leap out of my skin for finally being at Cropredy for taking one look at me and saying-you're that bloke from New York!. It set the tone for meeting all of you folks over the weekend and made me very thankful that I spent time on here in the months before getting to know so many of you.

Great post Robert.Thank you..................
.....and you are right, you got more in to one fest than some of us did in 18. I did find myself sitting next to Robert Plant once but I'm not in your league.  ;D
 You gain 6 additional name dropping points.

One of my favourite memories happened on the Thursday before Thursday became another festival day.

After taking in the local hostelries during the afternoon/evening, my mate & I wandered into the arena about 12:30am, sat in front of the mixing tower supping ale, and watched the lighting crew setting up the stage, though they did ignore our helpful suggestions!  ;)

Guess that couldn’t happen these days!

and some things are of course best left to memories and we accept they have had their time. An example being the banter Jonah and latter Danny T had with the crowds, somehow getting 20,000 people to shout "get on with it" in recent years wouldn't work.

Yes, i remember watching RT sound check with about 30 others and he asked what we would like him to play. Vincent Black Lightning at 10.30 in the morning.  I always wandered on to the field on the Sun morn to watch the stage start to come down. In the days before elfin safety.

The incredible set from Blue Tapestry (While & Matthews with Maart, Pete Zorn and drummer Neil Marshall playing the songs of Joni and Carole) in 2003 : when it was time to play "Raised On Robbery", a call was put out for the auxiliary bassist as Pete Zorn wanted to grace the song with sax, and Maart was playing lead guitar. Cue a red-faced and refreshed Peggy running full pelt in his shorts from the bar for one number only !

The Dubliners in the rain.

Being there in body but not in spirit for Jools Holland due to being over-refreshed.

Discovering the best place for breakfast after seven years.

Thursday morning opening time sitting in the fireplace at The Red Lion.

The conversation in the gents at the Red Lion along the lines of "How many of us actually got into Fairport via rock rather than folk ?"

The weekend the music moved me to tears on no less than three occasions (Bob Fox singing Greek Lightning, RT and Christine Collister's A Heart Needs A Home and Beth Nielsen Chapman's rendition of Solo backed by FC)

One of my dearest friends joining Country Joe McDonald & His Band onstage for a lengthy spoons solo during the "Feel Like I'm Fixin' To Die Rag"

An impromptu late drunken session of Band and Beach Boys songs at the bar led by Messrs Pegg and McTell.

Ticking Status Quo off my I-Spy list of bands I've seen and enjoying them.

Standing at the bar with Poor Will and Adam W wearing his Pompey shirt and spotting someone in a Southampton shirt a couple of feet away.

The great music, beer and food - the fact I haven't been able to make it for the last couple will make this year's Cropredy even more special...

Which reminds me, the old and, it seemed to me, huge CD tent that used to be down on th corner of the field, more or less where the merch tent is now. I bagged loads of bargains from there including what are now much sought after CD copies of First Light and Sunnyvista. It used to still be trading on Sunday morning and I would make it my habit to pop over and pick up a few bits on my way back from breakfast when the rest of the field was nearly empty and the stage was being dismantled before starting the long journey home.

No names dropped. No points. I've never met anyone famous at Cropredy!  ::)

That sublime moment in whatever year, when Sandy's "Quiet Joys of Brotherhood" was played over the PA during the Fairport set. Still the hackles rise when I remember it.

I suspect you don't mean that!  :)

Standing behind a very hairy chap at the bar, who promptly turned round, carrying numerous pints, & trod on my foot.  My 2 sons were gobsmacked - it was Roy Wood.

The year Billy Connolly (apparently) went to Cropredy the week before the festival, and was persuaded to do a short (family-friendly) set; anyone else remember the cycling/USA/"penile numbness" spiel?  ;)

Never to my knowledge seen Sir Robert Peel tho...

One memory was standing in a queue next to a YFA winner, and she smiled and said hello, so I smiled back and said hello and she continued looking at me and said........"would you mind moving please because you are treading on me". Ooops.  :)

2009 three of us walking into the top of the field after collecting wristbands and we all looked down the field and one turned to me and said "it's like we'm home again ay it" which was nice.

John Tams when with HS shouting "Maggie Maggie Maggie" and several thousand of us shouting "out out out" back at him. You never forget the lyrics to the classics.

Musically there are zillions but watching Cat and the chaps do Peace Train was maybe the best, wish he had done more of his hits.

Best set I have seen in my seven attendances was Little Feat.

Plenty of funny stories that don't really translate, you had to be there, everyone must have similar I hope.

Wakeman and Excalibur......Gawd.  :-X

Many of them deleted or never saved due to excessive alcohol consumption, but off the top of my head:

- The night FC acted as Plant's backing band.  My wife complained that she was going to buy some bowls from a stall when Mr. Plant came in and bought the very same ones..

- Getting so drunk on a Saturday evening that I fell over face first resulting in a huge black eye with yellow bruising all around (had some explaining to do at work on the Monday) - think that was 1992

- Having to get to Banbury station to get home so I could attend my Dad's 60th on a Sunday involving a 4 mile plus walk with a major hangover (hmm..theme of over use of alcohol developing here)

- Hearing RT play Gypsy Love Songs for the first time with a stunning solo

- Going with some friends who were concerned about the portable loo facilities to the extent that they took a huge dose of Arrets to avoid having to use same and then singing "We're going to live on Arrets" during the closing "Meet on the Ledge".

- The friendly atmosphere around the village

- Seeing the various FC line ups down the years - the 1997 show (our last) was particularly good..

One year -- maybe 1989 -- back when everyone sat on the ground, we suddenly realized there was a really big boa constrictor curled up on a blanket a couple of rows ahead of us. Someone called the Thames Valley police over, who had a long conversation with the snake's owners. They protested that as long as the sun was out the snake would remain asleep and harmless. Eventually they bundled it into a large sack and carried it off the field.

I also remember fondly the fellow who used to bring Wat Tyler's severed head, on a pole, to the festival.

In order to name-drop just a little: after consuming a large quantity of 6X, I had an argument one late night (when the boss's caravan was still at the top of the field) with Long Haired Mick about the absence of toilet paper in the back-of-field loos. In subsequent years he always inquired about the status of TP in the loos when I saw him. I miss LHM.

I remember Joe McDonald dedicating a blistering Section 43 to the recently-deceased John Peel.

As for vendors, whatever happened to the hand-made shoe cobbler from Glastonbury, and Karen & Rue Williams' beautiful sweaters?

Lovely post. Severed head , snake, toilets and a name drop. You can put 8 tokens in to the machine.
As for the vendors, huge generalisation but in the gap between my late 80's visits and mid 90's there were far less 'crusties' and I  use the word with affection. It became an older /middle class audience (sit on the ground indeed you damned hippy don't you know there is a designated distance for your chair to be from other'service users') and I suspect certain stall holders juscouldn't afford it any more.

What happened there Hendo?

I love snakes - I'd be happy to have a boa constrictor on a blanket next to me, in the sun!

I used to like the soap stall, always bought my years supply of ginger soap there!

I have no idea and i can't fix it. You push a button and get a big blank page. HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELP!

Edit: Helped. Colin

I thought it may have been an existentialist comment about space grabbing.....

If only I had the wit to make existentialist comments.

I've only been going since 2007 but the stand-out moments for me...

...being on the barrier with my mate Ian during the FC set when Robert Plant was introduced. We looked at each other and went "Yeah, right, Robert Plant....**** ME, IT'S ROBERT PLANT!!!".

...a year after my Dad died, crying my eyes out when Bob Fox and Billy Mitchell sang "Dance to the Daddy", the song my Dad always used to sing when I was a lad.

...meeting my wife's cousin and her husband a few months later...and discovering that we'd been stood six feet away from each other during Ralph McTell's set without realising it...and then spotting them on my photos.

...being heckled from the stage by ColvinQuarmby when I was the only person in the field who was willing to admit to working for a bank.

...making new friends: Jon from The Shed, Megan, John, Alex...

...Ian admitting on the Sunday lunchtime that the reason I could smell Laphroaig during FC's set the night before was because he'd been sneakily quaffing it from his hip flask whilst my back was turned.

...the first beer after the tent has gone up.

...oggies.

Every Cropredy since I first stumbled across it with my daughter as a toddler has so many memories - how to start?  Everyone sat on the ground in the field (aka main arena pre chairs), planning the day around the children's activities, sharing time with other parents and their face-painted tie dye-wearing, gleeful children.  Biker mates guarding rug corners with sleeping daughter Iona on a pile of coats after the light faded, camping on the cricket pitch - our own mini rally, the old showers in the cricket club mildew and all!  People selling stuff on the side of the road, doing braids by the canal, children playing pooh sticks and paddling in the stream.  One year in the family field we arrived quite late, they let us have a pitch and even babysat the sleeping babe from the gate while I went off to find my friends, and entertained her with her barbie doll when she awoke.  I returned and apologised profusely when I heard she had woken up, they said not to worry, off you go - enjoy yourself, she's fine!  Now those were the days!  

I met a lady called Issy I was camped next to one year and that was the year we had people stealing stuff from tents.  It also rained a lot, and I think that's when I met you all, joined talkawhile and later the convoy.  I'm a bellringer nowadays and ring at Cropredy Church to open the festival on Thursday afternoon, and on Sunday morning if I can.  Came across Show of Hands at Cropredy and have a cd signed by Phil - listening to them now via iphone and very clever dinky speaker.  

Returned last year with now 22 year old daughter and her boyfriend, his first festival, and knew in my heart of hears that it was actually my best weekend of the year.

So many memories, well hazy recollections really.

I went with the same group from 82-93, we missed 83 because we were confused and forgot, we did have tickets though, I blame the Swan on Wood Street. Since ten ot's been intermittent. We always arrived together and left together but did not spend a whole lot of time together on the blanket, strange days indeed. I remember for the first five years we would walk from Banbury on Thursday night after the pubs closed always catching a ride in a van somewhere and having to re pitch the tent in the morning. Riding the bus from Liverpool to Banbury with the change in Birmingham, the bar by the bus station in Birmingham always seemed to be playing Zappa, the interminable roundabouts before Banbury and people falling out of the bus toilet, counting down the pipers in the bottle of 100 Pipers Scotch. The year we got the train and saw Roy Wood at the train station and then in the field. Waking up with the hand drawn sign directing people to the festival, seeing old girlfriends with new boyfriends at the festival, falling in the same ditch every year, bleating like sheep, laughing, smoking, drinking and holding hands in the rain. The kindness of Swarb and Simon one year, causing Peggy to laugh so hard one year beer came out of his nose literally bumping into Ashley, Jude's grace and the sheer largeness of Trevor's personality. Forgetting the tent and sleeping under a borrowed piece of plastic, the convoy and the police. Taking my american girlfriend one year and then breaking down on the way home somewhere in Wales, proposing and suddenly the world changed.

Musically it was all fun from Capt CoCo to Pyewacket, Wild Willy and the opera lady, Jools, the early days band on Friday night, Liege and Lief, every time the Full House boys get together, Richard in the rain, the sun and the cold, Chicken Shack, LeRue, Four Men and a Dog, Tull, Plant turning up and being christened Bobby Radish by my friend John, it all made sense at the time.

Not that any of that made sense but I guess it's just that Cropredy and Fairport are part of my life, when it ends it ends but until it does it's a fun party and we will probably go when we can for as long as we are able.

Neil

Au contraire, it made perfect sense and made for a great read!

So did the Convoy turn up one year back in the day, then? I'd never heard about that, though I used to know some Convoy lads. I wonder how that played out ....?

- that RT sound check is high on my 'great' list too, he'd always seemed so focused and aloof before, but that morning he was relaxed and chatty, and it was magic.
Very early days, the first time I stayed on the field to the end with my then very small son, and as we inched our way down the field a couple of large hairy biker types picked him up and passed him forward over the heads, after an initial panic I squeezed along behind and felt completely overwhelmed by the comradeship around me.

Does that mean we need to update our avatars ? I look far younger now! ;D
After all it was my first drink of the day , about 9.30 AM wasnt it!

My best memory was the first time we went (1988, I was 37) , sitting down on the grass in front of the stage next to a lad of about 18, with an inflatable guitar, and he handed me his flagon of beer for a drink.

I also remember one memorable soundcheck with Richard and Jerry jamming, must have been late 80's. And Maart practicing the guitar solo for the Steve Harley spot and trying to work out what it reminded me of. ???

That explains why people say to me "Is your Mum here as well?"......  ;)

Yes it was, er, the first of the day. So early, I didn't realise.......  ::)

Banana basses and cornflake guitars.

Too many memories to choose from, or so it seemed. Then it came to me...

The most recent year of the great deluge (The Excalibur year, when I happened to turn round and see a wall of water advancing down the field during the set) - that same afternnon, needing 'relief' heading for the communal gents at the top of the field and seeing a chat in a full biohazard suit enter, looking initially smug for he was completely waterproof, but then seeing the smugness turn to panic when he realised he didn't have an appropriately sited zip!

He just shrugged and wandered back down the field.


Often wonder what happened next

Last year my daughter - been coming to Cropredy with us for last 15 years - brought along her partner for his first time. One of my favourite of many great memories from that weekend was seeing him dozing away saturday afto in the sun for about 2 hours - just loved how he'd got to feel  sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo chilled.

All,
I am SOOOOOOO jealous. Been a Fairport fan since about '68 and saw them whenever they came to the States. Been a Talkawhile lurker for years ( so I feel that I recognise, if not know you all) but have yet to attend Cropredy. It is, however, on the "bucket list". In the meantime, I'm forever grateful for the fact that you all share your Croppers highlights.
Steve

Steve - if and when you can - get over here! You won't regret it - just ask RobertD ! ;D

Most of my memories are best shared verbally close to the Cropredy bar, but one of my most cherished ones- though not too well remembered - is spending the better part of the Saturday morning 1982- After Midnight - , downing Scotch and sharing stories together with Jonah Jones, Trevor Lucas and Jerry Donahue at Cromwell Lodge Hotel.
O Tempera, O Mores!  8)
See you at the Cropredy bar!  ;)

i have searched for the shoe maker from glastonbury myself for a few years - pugg footwear i believe. i know they had a factory fire and had to move. i still have a pair of their boots but they are so old they are barely recognisable and i would love another pair!

I worked at all the festivals from Prescot Manor up untill 1994 , I am an electrician and we used to camp backstage. This memory is from my wife ,she was wondering around the field , it was about 1985 , when Gary Brooker from Procul Harum was doing his sound check and playing Conquistador and the only 2 members of the public were her and my daughter ,who was about 2 years old and in her buggy.
                We'll all be back again in August ,my wife and I have been to everyone , my daughter and son both went to their first Cropredy before their first birthdays !

 :D Every year is a different memory for me .. The Braze, the Lion, the mainstage, the gazebo, the bar (the bar the bar the bar) even different fields bring back different memories... the bridge over the river (The year before the new bells) Old friends new friends the first time the last time ... somethings that will never be repeated again   ::)(some things that SHOULDNOT be repeated again) :o The blokie that brought a barrel of beer (last year and thank you very very much!!!) Oggie Oggie Oggie ...I wear Fairport t shirts every day and the next Cropredy is the most important thing atm (It ALWAYS is) ..
I have never found another festival like Cropredy ( and I have been to a lot!)
praps someone will throw my ashes over mainstage  


 nuff said??????   [;-) {:-)

My first "Cropredy" was actually in 1981 when the festival left Cropredy and moved to Broughton Castle for that year only. The Full House line-up was reunited for the first time (I think) there and I arrived early enough to catch the sound check friday afternoon. A few minutes later I bumped into Simon Nicol. We struck up a conversation in which I happened to mention a gaping hole in my near complete collection that I was looking for like mad. A collection of live tracks recorded by various artists at the Nyon Festival in the late 70's. I knew Fairport had a few tracks on it and asked Simon if he could remember what they were. He didn't!

The next day he spotted me and gestured for me to come backstage (the only thing separating the backstage area was actually just a rope guarded by absolutely no-one). There he handed over a spare promotional copy of the album I'd been looking for. He signed it and handed it over with a smile, a pat on the back and a cheerful "see you in October" (he and Swarb toured Norway later that year).

No wonder we love this band...

That's a great story  :)  More details on the album please...

It's a double album on the Paleo label. The two Fairport tracks are "The Eynsham poacher" and "The hens march/Four poster bed" medley. Although the cover wrongly claims the latter is "The Brilliancy medley". Other featured artists are Melanie, Dan Ar Bras, Loudon Waiwright III, Tannahill Weavers, Nazare Pereira, Dave Cousins, Maddy Prior, Planxty, Woodstock Mountains Revue, Christine Authier, La Bottine Souiriante, Fiori-Seguin, Graeme Allwright, Rockin' Dopsie & The Cajun Twisters and Oisin. It was all recorded in 1979...

Great post and puts you top of the bonus points board 8)

1st prize is .. you go to cropredy stand in front of the bar and grab people wearing tiara's and fez'z and ....buy them a drink!!!!!

In that case I'm gonna wear a tiara AND a fez.