Please Give your Isle of Wight Festival Stories at Experience 25!

11 June 2024 - Press release

 

Dr Patrick Glen from Leeds University will be visiting Experience 25 to gather your stories from the 1968 to 1970 Festivals! Experience 25 celebrates the earlier Festivals and the new Isle of Wight Festival from 2002 onwards – 25 this year!

He will have a desk within the front space of Experience 25 at 64 High Street, Newport on Wednesday 12th and Thursday 13th June and would love to hear your stories of attending the earlier Festivals from 1968 to 1970.

Experience 25 is on Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm until July 29th, and over the Isle of Wight Festival weekend (June 20th to 23rd). There is an official merchandise shop within the space, with all profits going to the charity who run Dimbola Museum and Galleries, The Julia Margaret Cameron Trust.

Dr Patrick Glen is an Historian and Lecturer in Cultural Industries at the University of Leeds. He is the author of several publications on the post-1945 history of popular culture in Britain— mostly concerning how popular music both shaped and responded to politics, society and wider culture. Currently Patrick is the principal investigator on the Pop Festivals, British Politics, Culture and Society, 1968-1976 project. Of course, this means he has been drawn to the Isle of Wight to better understand the festivals that took place on the island in 1968, 1969 and 1970.

Patrick is convinced the festivals at Godshill, Wootton and Afton Down are vital to understanding the history of post-War Britain—and today’s ‘culture wars’—but hitherto remain underexplored in academic histories. Patrick wants to ensure that the festivals on the Isle of Wight receive sufficient attention from historians and perhaps even the wider public. To do so, however, he needs the help of people who were there!
 
Patrick said, “Researching pop festivals of the 1960s and 1970s has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my career so far. As a music fan (and, for that matter, a musician) as well as having undertaken around four years of archival research into pop music festivals of the time across Britain, I understand that beyond the hype and controversies that surround music festivals there are the experiences of the people who were there. The more I research the Isle of Wight Festivals and particular the 1970s festival, the more I want to get to grips with the stories and memories. I approach these stories with an open mind and if you were there, I want to hear from you!”

If you cannot visit Experience 25 the Isle of Wight Festival Exhibition, at 64 High Street, Newport, between 9am and 5pm next Wednesday or Thursday, feel free to email Patrick (P.Glen@leeds.ac.uk) or write to: Patrick Glen, School of Performance and Cultural Industries, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT.