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The 1970 Isle of Wight Festival. 26th - 30th August 1970. 

 

"Straight press "

September 1st 1970.

  

  Aid for Destitute as pop festival ends.

The finger of the law at Portsmouth , pointing the way for hippies to go.

Freshwater Aug 31st.
    An emergency social welfare committee was et up today on the pop festival site near Freshwater to help the hundreds of young people who have no money to make their way home from the Isle Of Wight .
    The Rev Robert Bowyer ,who helped to run the Christian counselling service at the festival , said today "We are trying to arrange jobs on the site here for those without money so that they can earn enough to pay their own way home. But many of them do not want to go home at all. We are a little concerned that food supplies may be running out , but some of those who are leaving the site are giving us their spare food , which helped quite a bit."
He expected the welfare committee -which consisted of representatives of the churches and voluntary bodies such as Release -would be busy until Wednesday or Thursday helping the destitute. Hampshire police on the site have a 1000 pound fund from which they are advancing money to young people whose parents have guaranteed payment at their home police stations .
    Ferries from Ryde and Portsmouth were carrying about 2000 people an hour today and with other exits form the island , the total leaving was probably about 5,000 an hour.
At the festival site hundreds were still camping amid acres of litter. Dr Douglas Quantrill , the islands medical officer of health , said today he was satisfied with the general standard of hygiene during the festival and the litter was not a public health hazard. The promoters have two weeks in which to clear up the site or lose the money that they deposited with Hampshire Country Council as a guarantee. The queue for buses leaving the site stretched almost a mile today and the average queuing time was about five hours. There was some congestion on the roads , but little delay in boarding ferries at Ryde.
    Mr Mark Woodnutt, Conservative MP for the Isle of Wight , said the law had been brought into contempt at the festival. "I am not a prude and I do not mind nude bathing at the right place at the right time , but I do not like fornicating on the beach , which is what we have been seeing , " he said.
Mr Woodnutt said he was renewing his efforts for legislation to control pop festivals and he would be writing to the Home Secretary .

    A small launch carrying 12 festival visitors broke down between Yarmouth and the mainland coast this afternoon . The Yarmouth lifeboat took off those on board .


    

    Fiery Creations , organisers of the festival., claim that more then 30,000 worth of damage was caused by the mobs who attacked fences and mobile shops at the Freshwater site early yesterday .

    An unidentified French youth , aged 17, who fell 40 ft from a cliff at Compton Bay near Freshwater was "still in a critical condition "Southampton General Hospital said yesterday .

 

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The Underground press- NB: opinions expressed in these articles do not represent our opinions of the organisers or any other people involved in the running of the festival, it is possible that they may be innaccurate in some details or facts.

International Times.

Reports from the "Straight "press

 

The White Panthers


Other IOW festivals.
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  • 1969 Isle of Wight festival
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