dave from the archive at www.ukrockfestivals.com is collating a history of Uk festivals and asked me for an eye witness account of Elephant Fayre so this is what i told him.

I know why you are lacking in accounts for e-Fayre and Trewargy we were all trollied! My eyewitness accounts consist mainly of talking inane drivel to people who were a bit older than me who were punks or crusties or hippies, the peace convoy people i guess - they never offered me smack or children merely very strong acid, so i spent most of it trying to hold myself together through a wall of spliffs and noticing wicker cane fences/flags/fabrics and the stalls appeared to be on a lake of water - there was lots of mud at one end - and loads of us were jumping in it. There were also some posh people there but they just treated me as a kid and were off with me. They dressed smartly and looked down their noses - that left a lasting impression going into the late 80s on my attitudes.

There were some cool punk bands playing including The Cure and Souisxie (although from the line ups I've seen on your site that's impossible) and that's about it - i'm sure I was 14 (surely not 13! I lied to my parents i was staying at a mates and we both went -i don't remember paying to get in either) at the time and it's 24 years ago! I remember a reggae roots band - so it must be 1983 - there was no hint of trouble as i recall and I became a goth/crustie over that weekend it was life changing. I'm sure a female lead singing punk band played though that i always thought was Siouxsie.

TBH i seem to remember being more interested in the comedy tent - no idea who was on just thought it was incredibly funny - bearing in mind at home i wasn't allowed to watch 'Not the Nine O'clock news' which reminds me there was also lots of topless muddy women about which also distracted me at 13/14 from concentrating on bands. What was always weird i remember was spending every day with this huge imposing house next door - i don't remember eating anything or taking a tent. No idea where I slept - i think i just passed out. There were lots of elephants about the place too which was cool/bizarre and made it all even more unreal. So basically one weekend way back changed my life forever - from then on for years i only wore black, i still have a mohican, it formed my embryonic politics, my musical likes, what kind of person i am - yet i actually remember very little.

Occasionally i remember moments while I'm at festivals these days something will happen and I'll remember a moment of my first festival only for it to elusively vanish when i try to recall it after I'm back home. I'm not sure how relevent it is but I became a festival nut, this year taking my family to a dozen or so as our family holiday. I'm sure that's mainly down to how much i loved Elephant Fayre. Although my parents had taken me to Reading Festival in 1978.

Weirdly i had no instant desire to go back to Elephant Fayre the next year and when i did think it would be nice to go again i discovered it had stopped years earlier.