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"The Glastonbury Festival site is a large, hilly dairy farm, with rough tracks and the distinct
possibility of slippery mud".
That's what I said on this page last year. It did turn out to be a little muddy, as you may have heard, which made life difficult for everybody but particularly for wheelchair users. The Glastonbury organisers provide fairly good facilities given the location; a reserved parking area, transport from there to the site, a dedicated camping area, and disabled toilets. Only a few people took advantage of them last year, more from one of those later.
Here's the information provided to me last year by Andy Faulkner, who decided not to go due to the weather. As far as I know, the arrangements are the same for this year.
You'll be pleased to know there are no major problems to encounter. I am 100% dependent on my wheelchair for my mobility and I went to the 1995 festival. I found that getting around the site was OK, and also getting to places like the middle of the main spectator field didn't present any problems. Obviously it is not wise to try to cross the spectator areas while there are bands playing onstage, but inbetween sets it is easy to weave your way through the people.
I found that I could get to all areas independently, but this of course depends on how well you are able to push. The ramps to the loos were quite steep but I always managed to get in on my own. Once inside there is loads of space and even a wash basin (but no water!).
The information below was given to me directly by the organisers and is 100% accurate at the time of writing. I am sure you will enjoy the festival, it's a tremendously friendly event and fine for wheelchair users (unless it rains of course, but then it's messy for everybody!).
The site should be approached from Entrance Gate 1. There is reserved parking for disabled, tell the marshalls where you need to go. It may be best to show your 'Orange Badge' or some other proof of eligibility. There is an adapted bus that will take you from the reserved parking area to the camping area reserved for the disabled. The camping area is situated west of the Main Stage field and is going to be more rigorously stewarded this year.
Toilets for the disabled are situated in the camping area, in the Greenfield area, and also in the backstage area. You do not require a special pass of any kind, but I would recommend you carry some sort of document qualifying yourself if your disability is not obvious. This could make life easier for yourself and the stewards.
A few wheelchair users did brave the conditions. Billy Bragg dedicated a song to one of them, who managed to get around pretty well with the help of three friends and a couple of lengths of rope. Also present was John Upstone, aka Juppy, who posted his experiences at the festival to the newsgroup uk.music.rave. I've edited slightly, mainly to remove a "thanks to" list longer than the average Oscar winner.
I will remember Glastonbury 1997 for rest of my life, there's no doubt of that.
If you saw the mud on the news... believe me, it was worse on site. Imagine a wheelchair trying to get through deep mud the consistency of runny clay. The gap between the hand rim and the wheel fills up with slime and every single time you push the chair you sink your fingers into a substance not unlike potters' slip with bits of gravel added in. That's about every 2-3 seconds - now just imagine how many times you do it trying to cross the site. Furthermore, the small front wheels sink into the swamp and it's almost impossible to get any forward momentum going. Even when it's not raining, the muddy puddles splatter you with muck. It's cold, and windy, and generally quite horrible, for bipeds and quadrorbs alike.
So you can take it from the above that Glastonbury was *not* a wheelchair friendly site this year. ;)
Having been in a chair all my life I've fought hard for my independence, and it's especially difficult to cope with being cooped up, unable to move around outside without assistance, and almost totally reliant on other people for five frustrating days. Cold, muddy and wet, unable to get about the site except by Land Rover for most of the festival, I should have been in hell.
So why did I have an absolutely wicked, wonderful time?! :)
Because of all of you that were there. From meeting John G and Ian on Wednesday night, appearing out of nowhere to rescue us and whisk us off to a nice, clean, dry caravan, through to Mels, Eric and Doug, whose tent we invaded for several nights, and including all the lovely, wonderful UMR people, there were few moments when I was without the company of friends whose comfort and encouragement made the whole thing bearable and even great fun. I missed most of the various performers, but a steady stream of visitors brought the festival to our tent - and we finally made it to the dance tent on Sunday afternoon & evening.
From the party in front of John G's caravan, to the fluffy pile of loved-up people in the impromptu chill-out tent on Saturday night, from taking joyrides to the loo in a Land Rover, to *finally* managing to see some artists on Sunday night, I quite simply had a great Glastonbury. :)
Finally thanks to (Welsh) Doug for being a brother in arms, or should I say "in wheels" - we faced the adversarial mud side by side, and I took some comfort in the fact that there was someone else around who really understood just how *frustrating* the experience could sometimes be...
And does anyone know a good way of getting dried mud off a wheelchair? It's a bit difficult trying to hose it down when you're sitting on it. ;)
If you've got any comments or experiences relating to this, mail me.