1969 Police Fund Raiser in Barn

[michelej1]

[From the BBC Hereford and Worcester, readers were asked to send in stories about gigs they saw in the area]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/herefordandworc..._feature.shtml

Stars in the barn
by Alan Morgan

Lots of the top bands of the '60s played Grosmont Wood Barn in Herefordshire. Alan was in the audience at one memorable gig... but was John Lennon there too?

If you were a group in the 1960s you could end up playing some pretty strange places - but few as remote and unglamorous as the outbuildings of a farm in Grosmont, on the Herefordshire/Monmouthshire border.

Yet this unpromising barn hosted gigs by Pink Floyd, Jethro Tull and Fleetwood Mac.
As someone who was in the audience put it: "This barn is in the middle of nowhere - there weren't any neighbours to complain, there was no traffic snarl-ups."

Alan Morgan has sent us the story of one of those gigs:

"In 1969 myself and a friend Colin Turner (sadly killed in a road accident a couple of years later) went to Grosmont Wood Barn to see Fleetwood Mac, Jethro Tull, the Amazing Arthur Brown (including his flaming crown) and other bands.

"It was all in aid of the Abergavenny Police Benevolent Fund, if I remember correctly.

"It was an amazing night - Fleetwood Mac played Albatross, which was fantastic live, and Jethro Tull played all their chart songs.

"It was alleged that John Lennon was in the crowd, but this was not confirmed... anyway I didn't see him!"