Peace Convoy

Does anyone remember the Peace Convoy? They used to live in old buses and ambulances and travel around England in the 80's having festivals. For a little while it appeared to be an idyllic travelling lifestyle on the ancient byways, but most people hated them and they became the "crusty" menace.

The core convoy was obliterated by the police in a beanfield in Wiltshire in 1985 - their homes destroyed, women and children hospitalised by truncheon wielding coppers empowered by Maggie Thatcher's Public Order Act (brought in to smash the miners). Sad but inevitable - they were strange times...

Every time I see an old ambulance I remember solstice gatherings at ancient sites, Convoy vehicles arranged haphazardly with fires, selling bean burgers and happy cakes with the thud of dub reggae and the smell of woodsmoke and other things .. I wish i'd been a photographer back then ...