Back at the Unite Marquee more staff had arrived to open up for those that had made it onto the site, all of whom were happy to be back at Tolpuddle and hopeful that the rain would soon blow over.
However it had become apparent that “blowing over” might cause a more serious problem.
Amazingly the evening of music went to plan. I helped bands load in from the main street and the back of the museum as it was impossible for them to access backstage parking.
The bar opened up, and the bands played and a real spirit of solidarity took over the festival as people danced, cheered and shared stories of flooded tents and helping fellow campers.
I’d already packed down my tent at this point, concerned it wouldn’t survive the predicted winds on Saturday – and was now sleeping on the floor in an empty cottage behind the museum.
First thing in the morning the festival organisers gathered to looked at the latest weather reports. It wasn’t good. The original idea of scaling back the Saturday but still having Sunday's main event was looking far less viable due to growing concerns about the safety of festival goers and site crew.
With wind speeds predicted to gust beyond 50 mph it wasn’t just the campers that were at risk, but also the smaller marquees and traders’ pitches. I was on the phone to the Unite crew in nearby Wareham when the decision was made to cancel the festival totally and evacuate the site. This was obviously heart breaking for organisers who had spent a year pulling the 2023 event together – but everyone agreed it
After the storm – on Sunday Unite’s Steve Leniec (left) and Ivan Monckton lay the agricultural workers’ wreath at the grave of Martyr James Hammett. They were joined by TUC dignitaries.
was the only safe course of action.
After sharing the bad news with the team, myself and other volunteers headed for the traders and camping fields to let people
know.There was real solidarity as people helped each other take down their camps and carry everything to their cars.
By lunchtime most of the campers had packed up – just in time as the winds were getting stronger all the time. At this point there had already been damage to a few gazebos that hadn’t been taken down despite advice - but now things really started to get interesting.
The banner that dresses the main stage split in a number of places and the Organise Tent – which was being used to coordinate the evacuation of the site – had to be evacuated itself as it partially collapsed.
There was then a shout from next to the main stage. I ran over with others to find that one of the larger union marquees had pulled out the long
anchor pegs at the front and flipped onto its side – luckily no one was near it at the time.
Back in the Henry’s Beard cafe with a coffee I heard of another lucky escape. One of their crew was in a portaloo as a marquee from the kids’ area escaped its moorings, ending up in the adjacent field in front of the toilets – blocking the doors and resulting in some passing stewards rescuing him. He was pretty shaken but unharmed.
It now seemed the safest course of action was to seek sanctuary and go to the Martyrs Inn, have a nice cold pint, and wait for this all to blow over. Which must have been a popular plan as it was rammed!
With increasing evidence of the human impact on the climate resulting in more extreme weather events I can only hope this is the last time that Tolpuddle will be cancelled. But with the fantastic organising team, union supporters, festival crew and punters I’m sure it will continue, and the Martyrs’ legacy will never be forgotten.
11 uniteLANDWORKER Summer 2023
Pictures by Keith Hatch
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