We met at the invitation of English Heritage in the Antrobus Arms from 2PM to about 5PM on Friday 25th September. Rollo tabled a letter ostensibly from COBDO but in reality it was a demand from himself for total dominion of the dawn with other groups hived off to other times and only a handpicked congregation to listen to him. I will deal with the points in that letter, and how Clews Everard answered them at the end of the meeting, later in this account.

The purpose of the meeting was stated to be feedback from the summer so Clews can make a report and recommendation to English Heritage Commission about access for next year, and the timescale is we will meet again before Christmas. A lot of the meeting was spent in dealing with Rollo's contentions and in subjecting him to correction and criticism, so he had an exciting meeting, moving from bluster and interruption to sudden bursts of contrition when he saw things were against him.

In this way he was led to admit the possibility that at the Solstice Dawn anyone could in fact have interrupted his spiel and asked him to move over. According to Arthur this was how they would work, the magic words were something like "Wind it up mate" and I can see that yes, in a group that he knows and works with, that it is how it is dealt with. On the other hand, Phillip Shallcrass expressed what I think is a very real point that he feared having a blazing argument in the middle of the stones in front of the world's press. Phillip and Rollo would have had an argument, probably, Arthur and Rollo wouldn't, that is my view.

On a less serious note, Rollo had to backtrack on underlining the word "must" in his letter, claiming disingenuously this was a computer error, to widespread amusement, he had committed ~lese majestie~ to Clews, who is in charge, and you do not speak or write to her like that.

I felt enormous tension personally during the meeting, listening to these obdurate druid factions squaring up to each other. To put this in context Tim Abbott later told me he did not feel tense and he felt the meeting was very positive. To return to my own observations I felt while Rollo was the most blatant and embarrassing that reflected in a way on his rather naive sincerity and honesty. The others were much more professional in their approach, and therefore actually more dangerous, and by this I mean in a tendancy towards exclusion and druid supremacy.

We had Jennifer Maugham and another officer from "The Druid Order" whose name says it all, they claim to be the ancient original and authentic, and went for it once at the beginning claiming to have been working as a group for hundreds or thousands of years, but tamed this into a distant inscrutable diplomacy. They did not like Arthur's chaotic free-for-all version of a ritual, they prefer a gathering with mutual purpose and intention, they hoped they might be able to do the dawn again as a coherent group on some kind of rotation basis. This sounds like a good offer from a group who used to be the only group in the field at Stonehenge (up to 1984) but I would feel this was only a temporary strategy, their aim would be to work behind the scenes to be accepted by English Heritage as supreme, as the "official" druids as they used to be.

Phillip Shallcrass of the BDO has abandoned the romantic celtic image he once adopted, as a bard with flowing hair dressed in sheepskin, for a businesslike haircut and collar and tie and he approached the business of reporting on the feedback he had received, which included many people complaining about the hogging of the space within the stones with commendable diplomacy, remaining clear while managing not to mention the name of the person or group who was monopolising the stones. Thus between the GOD and the BDO there were exchanges of a businesslike kind across the table. For instance when Phillip mentioned a person who had interfered with his ritual at Avebury he was assured this was someone whom COBDO has dissociated themselves from.

Amazingly English Heritage had nothing but praise for the gathering at the Solstice evening that Thomas and I had organised. Nevertheless I expressed the need for a meeting beforehand, perhaps on the grass in the National Trust field, to co-ordinate what we were doing. And I stressed that when 100 or more from different groups met at dawn it was absolutely essential for them to have a discussion, different groups could input into one ceremony, or decide how to have separate ceremonies, and the needs of those who did not want to join a group ritual should also be stated and addressed.

Val Bannister who is the intrafaith worker for the PF, sported a gay orange patterned shirt, but also volunteered, as a party having no claim on the dawn, to try and mediate between groups seeking access at dawn. Rollo and Arthur loudly voted against this, and Phillip, who is the one who has normally refused mediation, said nothing at all, so she may find this an interesting task, but I offer her every support.

Apart from the evening and dawn, where parties were bussed through the zone, there was access at Noon, and the following day 22nd June, participants were allowed to use the car park on these occasions. There was some discussion about extending people's freedom in this respect. Some suggestions were made as to how to minimize intrusion by the press at dawn, there had been 33 instead of the limit of 20, they had been already at the stones when the party arrived, Phillip suggested they should take their pictures and depart after half an hour, and arrange appointments elsewhere for interviews.

I mentioned how policing seemed to be more intensive, with reports of officers with dogs going into the fields to seek people, which they have not normally done, and it is clear that the intention here was to protect the special access parties from interruption. In this case I did challenge the police to explain how and in what circumstances they could move from this highly tensioned and artificial arrangement towards lifting the exclusion. On another occasion I did express the need for gaining public understanding for some groups to be allowed to hold coherent rituals as and when the landscape is opened up.

Andy Hollingshead, the police commander, has background with the Pilton festival, and was very matter of fact, saying that if there had not been an exclusion zone about 400 people would have been at the stones for solstice. I heard this almost as throwing it back to English Heritage to see what they could cope with, and I could see he did not mind personally as he had experience of dealing with a gathering of 100,000. Others of course mentioned how they could see the numbers seeking Stonehenge growing to 5,000. Tim Abbott especially stressed to English Heritage that significant forward progress should be made because of the likely demand for special celebrations in the year 2000.

Arthur had not been invited but Clews welcomed him graciously. He used the meeting to complain several times about being locked up, which sounded quite disingenuous as I know he had more or less insisted on being arrested. Nevertheless he represented the voice of the many who are arrested and still excluded. He stoutly asserted the exclusion order was contrary to European law and he intended to challenge it. I will be writing to him to seek clarification on this point. I perceived that Rollo had asked him in to give him some support.

Rollo's claim to represent 15,000 people was challenged as an exaggeration, it appears he is including the Fellowship of Isis, who are a large international pagan organisation with no particular connection with Stonehenge, and more to the point, no particular connection with Rollo. That would be my view. The request for further members of COBDO to attend the meetings was not specifically answered.

Clews said she was quite clear about the difference between "private" and "public" gatherings, from what she had heard at the table, the first was an organised gathering, and the second was a disorganised one, and she was very clear about which she found preferable. The Solstice dawn would continue to be open for application for all parties on some kind of proportional basis, although she pleaded for advice as to how this could be achieved fairly. If Rollo found this "unacceptable" she pointed out that plenty of groups would find it acceptable, he could be in or he could be out, he quickly agreed to suffer the same restrictions as other groups. She could say nothing at this stage about numbers.

The suggestion for a gathering at Countess roundabout was rebutted by Supt Hollingshead on safety grounds, somewhere in the Stonehenge landscape would be better, perhaps Woodhenge. Clews noted how some very successful gatherings had been held at Woodhenge recently. In response to the final suggestion, she said English Heritage were not in the business of talking to farmers about negotiating sites.

These impressions of the meeting are compiled from memory, they are personal and are not to be taken as a chronological account. They are for the assistance of The Truth & Reconciliation Commission for Stonehenge, and The Stonehenge Peace Process more generally.

[I'd like to add on 20/5/00, things have of course moved on, there have been many Round Table meetings since 25/9/98 and often they are very productive and amicable, and have led to the open access scheme for 2000. Rivalry between druid chiefs may still be an issue in the future. I wanted at my very first meeting of the RT to give a flavour of it to the public, as these are private meetings, and no minutes are published.]