2000 - Cannabis Carnival

May 6th 2000 - Kennington Park to Brockwell Park and festival

Hot. That's the thing I remember most about this one.

I got to Kennington park around 12.00 for the 1.00pm start, just as people were starting to turn up. It soon became apparent I should have brought a hat though, the sun was strangely (for England) hot and very powerful, oh for a thick head of hair. Time for the suntan lotion treatment.

The march was wonderful, at least 15,000 people, maybe more, made their way in a haze of skunk smoke through Brixton, accompanied by friendly police who seemed not to notice the bongs, pipes and spliffs being very openly passed around. Judging from their comments, they applied to work on this march as something of an easy option.

The good natured march made its way slowly through the streets of South London, every sweet shop on the root must have taken more that day than they do in a whole year judging from the queues at their doors.

I was lugging a full sized VHS camcorder along, something I could really have done without given the heat and by the time I got to Brockwell park I was drenched in sweat.

As for the festival itself, there was all sorts of music and entertainment on offer, including some of the free party sound systems that stage the famous London parties on Saturday nights. I was happy to flop on the ground with friends and simply soak up the atmosphere.

A wonderful day out and a perfect example of the cannabis culture was shown to the world. The video sat in my box of tapes for the next 12 years before finally coming to light in April 2012 when, thanks to Youtube, it can finally be shown in all its glory