'Pay for pray' accusation after plans to charge for solstice parking at Stonehenge and ban alcohol
'Pay for pray' accusation after plans to charge for solstice parking and ban alcohol
Alex Rennie, Reporter/ News
A SENIOR druid has accused English Heritage of creating a "pay to pray policy" after unveiling plans to charge for parking at the solstice celebrations.
King Arthur Pendragon then walked out of a "Roundtable" discussion after bosses at Stonehenge said they planned to ban alcohol.
The two changes are part of plans to reduce visitor numbers during both the winter and summer solstice. Numbers to the summer celebration hit a record 40,000 in 2014 while 7,000 revellers were at the winter event in December.
English Heritage say the changes have come "in order to reduce risk to those attending and to the monument itself".
However King Arthur said the changes "came out of the blue" and accused Stonehenge's owners of "sanitising" the celebrations.
"The ban on alcohol may sound like it makes sense but lets face it alcohol is legal in this country," he said.
"It is not for them to tell me how much alcohol we can use. There is also a problem with drugs and it will only encourage more people to use them."
King Arthur said he would fight the changes "tooth and nail" going as far as the high court if needed.
"It is getting ridiculous," he added. "Would you pay to park outside a church?"
English Heritage say that by introducing a parking charge, it will encourage car sharing and use of public transport.
Kate Davies, Stonehenge’s General Manager, said: “Over the past few years, we have had lots of feedback from those attending the solstice celebrations, from families with young children to those for whom the stones holds a special spiritual significance.
“We hope that by prohibiting alcohol, it will help everyone to have a better experience of solstice. We have seen more and more people forego the car for public transport and we would like to see this trend continue. The solstice celebrations will still be free to attend but we hope that by introducing a parking charge, more people will choose to travel by bus.”
The story is already courting comment from local people in our village of Shrewton....
this from smfp49 who may have a point.
"I know exactly what will happen if parking charges are introduced - the attendees will park in nearby villages - most notably, Shrewton. We will go back to the bad old days of encampments and rubbish in residential roads. Once again-English Heritage have demonstrated their lack of consideration for local people and we still have to put up with the A303 rat running, so I foresee absolute chaos"......local businesses be warned!!
The story appears again today - as an exclusive!!! by Tristan Cork in http://www.westerndailypress.co.uk/Alcohol-ban-Stonehenge-summer-solstice-sanitise/story-28673004-detail/story.html#comments
King Arthur Pendragon then walked out of a "Roundtable" discussion after bosses at Stonehenge said they planned to ban alcohol.
The two changes are part of plans to reduce visitor numbers during both the winter and summer solstice. Numbers to the summer celebration hit a record 40,000 in 2014 while 7,000 revellers were at the winter event in December.
However King Arthur said the changes "came out of the blue" and accused Stonehenge's owners of "sanitising" the celebrations.
"The ban on alcohol may sound like it makes sense but lets face it alcohol is legal in this country," he said.
"It is not for them to tell me how much alcohol we can use. There is also a problem with drugs and it will only encourage more people to use them."
King Arthur said he would fight the changes "tooth and nail" going as far as the high court if needed.
English Heritage say that by introducing a parking charge, it will encourage car sharing and use of public transport.
Kate Davies, Stonehenge’s General Manager, said: “Over the past few years, we have had lots of feedback from those attending the solstice celebrations, from families with young children to those for whom the stones holds a special spiritual significance.
“We hope that by prohibiting alcohol, it will help everyone to have a better experience of solstice. We have seen more and more people forego the car for public transport and we would like to see this trend continue. The solstice celebrations will still be free to attend but we hope that by introducing a parking charge, more people will choose to travel by bus.”
The story is already courting comment from local people in our village of Shrewton....
this from smfp49 who may have a point.
"I know exactly what will happen if parking charges are introduced - the attendees will park in nearby villages - most notably, Shrewton. We will go back to the bad old days of encampments and rubbish in residential roads. Once again-English Heritage have demonstrated their lack of consideration for local people and we still have to put up with the A303 rat running, so I foresee absolute chaos"......local businesses be warned!!
The story appears again today - as an exclusive!!! by Tristan Cork in http://www.westerndailypress.co.uk/Alcohol-ban-Stonehenge-summer-solstice-sanitise/story-28673004-detail/story.html#comments
When the proposals were aired at a 'stakeholders' meeting on Thursday, leading druid King Arthur Pendragon walked out.
He said he opposed measures to stop the thousands of revellers and solstice worshippers taking alcohol into the site, and the plan to charge drivers of the thousands of cars that use a temporary car park in the fields near Stonehenge a fee to park there.
"I walked out of a meeting today leaving others to see what crumbs they may get from the masters' table," he said. "Now I have not been falling down drunk in years, but that's not the point. It's a celebration, not to be sanitised.
"If you think that's bad, point two is a charge for car-parking. I told them they were looking for confrontation. They told me to hold my tongue and I walked. I didn't need to hear any more," he added.
Not too sure about this comment tho':
He said he opposed measures to stop the thousands of revellers and solstice worshippers taking alcohol into the site, and the plan to charge drivers of the thousands of cars that use a temporary car park in the fields near Stonehenge a fee to park there.
"I walked out of a meeting today leaving others to see what crumbs they may get from the masters' table," he said. "Now I have not been falling down drunk in years, but that's not the point. It's a celebration, not to be sanitised.
"If you think that's bad, point two is a charge for car-parking. I told them they were looking for confrontation. They told me to hold my tongue and I walked. I didn't need to hear any more," he added.
Not too sure about this comment tho':
Good. Drugs are much easier to smuggle in than alcohol, so this will encourage people to take drugs rather than drink alcohol, ultimately leading to a safer, more enjoyable experience for everyone. I don't doubt whoever made this decision did so for the wrong reasons, but anything which encourages young people to experiment with drugs rather than alcohol can only be a good thing.
Reference the new car parking charges to attend Solstice 2016 one could of course drop in using one of these.....completely unnoticed and for free!
