Something controversial...

[Penguin (Dunc)]

What happened on the Saturday of last year Penguin.. It poured.. but I can't remember if RT was there...

Ah!  I'd forgotten about that.  Mind you I was hidden under a large German army poncho drinking beer & wine at the time so that could account for the memory loss. 

Cheers
Dunc

[Amethyst (Jenny)]

Yes I think I saw the photo.. or was that Mark??

[Bridgwit (Bridget)]

Have read thread with great interest. Despite being a fan of some 17 years, for various reasons I have only been to one Cropredy (2004) but thought it one of the most amazing experiences of my life - and no I haven't led a particularly sheltered existence - far from it! OK there's lots of people there, and some of them moaned about stuff, and I couldn't see parts of the stage due to the careful positioning of a large St George's flag, and it bucketed down (on the Friday, anyway) and some of the stalls played ridiculously loud and inappropriate thrash metal when Tiny Tin Lady were doing their melodic but delicate best, and some idiot "played" a flute ALL weekend     and the pancakes were awful, and they ran out of t-shirts etc etc

BUT - the music was brilliant, the CD tent well-stocked, the roads & camping fields well-organised, the music was brilliant, the kids all seemed so happy, I bought a rain-stick, the music was brilliant, I met FC and got their autographs, and impressed Ric with my black nail varnish, there was a tremendous selection of reasonably-priced food, the music was brilliant, the beer was cold (I don't remember it running out - and I would remember a tragedy like that), the location was superb, I felt amongst like-minded people (see, I'm not the only one), the weather was superb on Saturday, the village shop was well stocked (that freshly baked bread - ah!), the Morris Dancers - and the crowd dancers - were great - and did I mention the music was brilliant? 

No, IMHO Cropredy shouldn't be moved. We all have to adapt to changing environments  (don't leave valuables unsecured, be tolerant of others etc) but that's modern life and Cropredy without the Cropredy just doesn't seem right somehow. The goodwill of the locals, the layout of the fields, the views around Cropredy and the sun setting behind the stage - this couldn't be replicated anywhere else.

Long live Croppers and roll on August!! ..... although on second thoughts Fairport's Cardiff Convention has quite a ring to it .... and we have got the stadium .... with real toilets .... and a roof ... and big screens .... and huge fields to camp just across the road .... and

Maybe not.

[Sian]

Well said Bridgwit.  2000 I stood in THAT field for the first time and the sun set behind the stage it was Saturday night about 8.00 ish the atmosphere was buzzy.  I'd had a fabulous weekend, marvelled at the numerous stalls and food, spoken to loads of people who speak to you just because, had a laugh in field 7, been totally entranced by the village of Cropredy, been well fed by the breakfasts provided by the local church.  Enjoyed some superb music all weekend, danced, laughed, cried.  Cropredy!  On came Fairport Convention.  Nuff Said.

[greglin (Gregg)]

, and some idiot "played" a flute ALL weekend     

I have mentioned ( moaned loudly ) about this before.....

I'm not a violent man , and not into blood sports, but if Catweazle and his bl**dy flute are on that bridge at 06.00 any morning of this year's Cropredy, than he had better know how to swim !!! At the very least, he could take lessons.................he was quite without exception the most talentless "musician" I have ever heard....................

[Edthefolkie]

WE, the audience, are a large part of what keeps Croppers going and make it what it is.

At the age of 59 (oh God) I still have an idiot dance or two at the front. I meet loads of old and new friends. I don't really mind the hooray henries, the noisies, the drunks - or the chairs I suppose  .  Other people even put up with me!!

I and several of our extended party of elderly voluntary patients have been turning up since 1979 and we can remember the early years when there was a line of comatose bodies in front of the stage at midnight on Saturday, surrounded by 4 gallon scrumpy flagons. No doubt some of these lovely people are now pillars of the community, complaining that Fings Ain't Wot They Used T'Be - or maybe they're dead.

After all these years I, like a lot of other posters apparently, get a tremendous buzz when I walk into that field on Thursday  - must be my hearing aid. It wouldn't be the same anywhere else.

Anyway I believe Croppers gets a much bigger audience than C*mbr*dge F*lk F*stival.

Cheers - Ed (PS if it rains again this year, me mate Roy has an LWB Land Rover with, I believe, a winch, so don't worry about the car getting stuck)     

[x]

been going since '84 on a motorbike. never got stuck once. Can't work it out myself. unless i had a shovel

[Paul]

Thanks Ed, I'll bare the offer in mind if it rains. How many tons can a landrover pull?

Paul

[greglin (Gregg)]

Am prepared to be hooted at on this one  , but.............I could only do the Saturday last year - and had a few bevvies - and was too vain to wear my glasses - but I didn't see the wonderful English Sausage Company's stall . Were they there?

man cannot live on goat's cheese pasties alone.............................I need my sausage levels frequently topped up

[PLW (Peter)]

Do you mean the Real Sausage Company? They were definitely there as we lined up our pitch by them, so the kids could find their way "home".

[greglin (Gregg)]

Sorry - that's the one !! glad to hear they are still functioning - i can taste those saussies as I write.................wonder if they do online shopping ?

[gower flower (Shirl)]

"I need my sausage levels frequently topped up."  Oh, I know, I KNOW

[Amethyst (Jenny)]

BEHAVE YERSELF SHIRL!!!

[greglin (Gregg)]

Well...................................

i had been going to add a comment to my earlier post regarding the respective merits of beef or pork - am I glad I didn't...................




Edit: TOPIC DRIFT ALERT

[Jack O Diamonds]

Given the heading on this thread it seems bloody amazing that I haven't placed the Jacques two drachma in the pot... So 'ere goes:

Move from Cropredy and it would simply be an annual few days in the country somewhere else. The longevity of the whole thing has been one of its main attractions through thick and thin. I mean one year I recall Tull fans attending en masse - that was boring because the collective IQ level appeared to have fallen markedly... Too many quasi Goths (god I detest fecking Goths) etc.

I liked the very early reunion days... You could walk into the other field and know by sight at least almost everyone there. Still wanted to avoid most of 'em (he he he) but it was a coterie...

Now? Its success is down to its appeal to all and sundry... A day in the country. An increasingly smaller percentage attend who have the faintest idea who or what Fairport is or are. And in all honesty the band have played to that LCD... ever-more anodyne pap acceptable to a wider and wider, less and less critically astute or focused catchment.

No point in changing the venue, the scum and detritus in this increasingly Third World Country will traipse to wherever there are open car doors, booze, innocent civilians etc etc. But FC will have to sort out bad press stuff like the yobs last year. I am sure the tactics of reasoning with them will be suggested.

Me? I prefer the idea of steaming into the slags and re-enacting the battle of Cropredy Bridge.

Yours, placatory as ever

[Polly Oxford (Andie)]

Chere Jaques!! -So where've you been hiding then? We've missed your incisive comments lately.
I disagree of course (well, mostly, -to a degree...) but it's still the event I plan my year around, and the number of familiar faces is ever-growing: it even includes a few of those Goths now. Perhaps you should swallow your cer-mudgeonly instincts and give it another try?

[Jack O Diamonds]

I have been "away" Polly! Not too bloody well rather than in the proverbial nick.... you know what they say: "Sickness & Diseases Pull You Down, Pull You Down...". One of my favourite "late early" period FC songs... love that lyric:

      "My friend Willie well he looks so ill,
       His face as white as milk...
       Everybody runs for miles when he's in town!
       He's got every known disease -
       And some without a name"

I may make it to Cropredy this year (so many of my mates go etc etc) but will definitely be there for the Hutchings-Thompson-Mattacks-Pegg-Nicol-Swarbrick-Dyble-Matthew sessh in 2007... all things being equal.

Now... back to curmudgeon.com

[Nick]

Hey Jack,

Did we see you at an Eighteenth Day of May concert at Oxford Zodiac recently?

[peterwales]

, and some idiot "played" a flute ALL weekend     

I have mentioned ( moaned loudly ) about this before.....

I'm not a violent man , and not into blood sports, but if Catweazle and his bl**dy flute are on that bridge at 06.00 any morning of this year's Cropredy, than he had better know how to swim !!! At the very least, he could take lessons.................he was quite without exception the most talentless "musician" I have ever heard....................

I think that's the character that actually comes from the same small Welsh town that I was born near.He is there most years I think. Whatever, he was "playing" the church yard outside the Red Lion last year, and even believing people should give him money! By far the worst busker I have ever heard.

[greglin (Gregg)]

Ah now, if we can identify from whence he comes, can we do owt to make sure he stays there, and doesn't come within a witches gowl of Cropredy. Nothing outrageous - nailing one foot to the floor would make me happy. Or perhaps hiding his flute - where he can't reach around for it.....................................