Stonehenge as it COULD be celebrated!

If “The People” are the vast majority that don’t attend the summer solstice event then for once The People were catered for at Stonehenge the other night – and what a difference it made! Mike Pitts  says it all on his blog in admirable words and pictures……

“The other night at Stonehenge…. Like summer solstice but with gentility – the Stonehenge Fire Garden. The stones close and personal and erratically wrapped in flames and paraffin smells in the growing darkness, thousands of people politely queuing, one man making gentle electronic music surrounded by a quiet crowd, a comfortable friendly gathering with no manic focus and no camera-hunger fancy dress artists being chased by the press. Soft, arty French eccentricity from La Compagnie Carabosse”

In Stonehenge we have one of the world’s greatest venues and meeting places, yet isn’t it an asset that is massively under-utilised? Haven’t we sleepwalked into allowing it to become associated with only one sort of gathering – and one that is hardly admired abroad ? Is it too much to hope that just as the monument’s physical environment is undergoing major improvements, so the emphasis on how it is celebrated might also be changed? A move towards gentle, respectful  events reflecting the taste and behaviour of the majority, things like the Fire Garden and the Amesbury Lantern Parade?

Power to the People!