The Arts Lab

"I run an arts lab which is my chief occupation. It's in Beckenham and I think it's the best in the country. There isn't one pseud involved. All the people are real - like labourers or bank clerks. It started out as a folk club, arts labs generally have such a bad reputation as pseud places. "There's a lot of talent in the green belt and there is a load of tripe in Drury Lane. I think the arts lab movement is extremely important and should take over from the youth club concept as a social service. "The people who come are completely pacifist and we get a lot of cooperation from the police in our area. They are more than helpful. "Respect breeds respect.

We've got a few greasers who come and a few skinheads who are just as enthusiastic. "We started our lab a few months ago with poets and artists who just came along. It's got bigger and bigger and now we have our own light show and sculptures, et cetera. And I never knew there were so many sitar players in Beckenham"..... David Bowie, September 1969.

Bowie in Haddon Hall
Photo: David Bebbington

The Three Tuns

       

This is the scene of the Beckenham Free Festival as it is today. Nothing has changed, you can see the dome shaped building in the background. This photo was taken from where I was sitting on the day of the concert. I was with Des Taylor, Tony Browning, Roger Banks, Paul Erser and a few others.

There were a group of skinheads on one side of the grass and another group of bikers on the other, there was no trouble at all. It could be there was a mod/skinhead night at the Three Tuns on a Friday and Saturday night run by Mike Wiltshire and on Sundays it was Bowie's group that were in.

Many thanks to Keith Christmas, David Baird, Bridget St John, Al Lovelock, Rob Jackson, Bill Liesegang, Mary Finnigan, and Dave Bebbington for their help in making these pages possible. If you were at the festival or a performer and you have some information or photographs that you would like to share, please get in touch.

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