Talk:Sid Rawle

Sid Rawle in London early 1970s
For anyone who is interested in editing this article, there are some very interesting insights into Sid's involvement with communes, in several comments by Michael McGrath on the blog page of Philip Carr-Gomm, the Chosen Chief of the worldwide Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids. Click here to show these comments

"Sid was a good friend to me, to many of us in ’Hippy Valley’, the Chalk Farm/Gospel Oak Commune when I was there with him back in 1974 . He was busy – I gladly helped – in housing many people temporarily there, including whole families , Marion his wife tending to the soup . Sid was running the Digger Action Movement with Frank Harris ( Mullen) of Farnborough, Hampshire , P.R.O. of that movement , that Mrs. and Dr. Richards of Houslow East had revived from Cromwellian times, basically a Levellers commune back then . We were all the ine with the BIT Information Service , where I worked , voluntarily, some times . I moved around with Frank when he was here in Kilkenny a couple of times a year , and thus came into Sid’s circle in London . I fear that Frank , who I last put up here in Kilkenny back in 1982 , and haven’t heard from him since , is gone as well . I remember that summer in London, fabulous , we had nothing but we had everything. Sid had moved into the Gospel Oak Vicarage immediately when the vicar moved into his newly-built residence there. I remember Sid joking to me that the Vicar always bid him Good Day in passing as a proper Christian gentleman. No, Sid never took dope. I remember one lovely evening as a dozen heads sat in circle around his huge drawing room, passing the pipe , that Sid suddenly got angry and said to me : "Come on, Michael , let’s get out of here and around to that little pub you use." He couldn’t drink either, all that sunny evening he struggled through two small bottles of light ale though there was plenty of money, no problem , from my navvy friends there , for him. He marvelled at the spped of their drinking and the sheer voluumes consumed. He was even more angry when we returned to see his dog on it’s back on the floor with all four feet solidly erect, like an upturned table – the fumes had gotten the better of the poor animal. Sid really cleared the place then ! They consisted of a few fellow Irishmen that I had brought up from Camden Town, and helped Sid keep order whenever violence or thieving occurred , which was seldom amongst a commune of at least 500 people. We didn’t need Police, Sid liaised with them , so they seldom came around , there was no need for them , they knew it , and relations with the Police in nearby Kentish Town were excellent at all times. Contrary to what idea the general public may have had of Hippies, the public baths were chock-a-block every day , they never had done such business, they happily told us. Our Irish navvy contingent were the most regular customers of all ! I was there with Sid the beautiful evening that John Lennon – ever a devotee of Sid ! – phoned from New York to let Sid know that he had donated 14,000 pounds to the Commune. I think it went on the movie made about The Diggers the following year in 1975"

I am aware that quoting so extensively like this is probably in violation of some talk-page guideline or another, but bearing in mind that both Sid Rawle and Michael McGrath have both been extremely controversial figures in their time, I thought it best to draw attention here on the Talk page, to the comments in this blog, as they are not automatically displayed, and might otherwise be overlooked.

I shall post separately regarding certain comments by his sister and other family members on another blog.

g88keeper (talk) 02:17, 21 September 2010 (UTC)

Sid Rawle and his parentage
There are comments by Sid's sister on Val Dobson's blog <here, which will be of interest to anyone trying to disentangle Sid from his own myth, in order to present an accurate view of his life.

"Sid's sister says: (September 13, 2010 at 15:30) Sid’s mother wasn’t a “Romany girl” and Sid tells his heritage in an interview on You-Tube. Mine and Sid’s mother was born and bred in London (Fulham), as was our grand-mother, and great-grandmother. Betty, our mother, joined the Land Army aged 17 and was posted to Exmore in the 1940s where she met Sid’s father whilst she worked on a farm there. They were married for seven years before they divorced. Following a protracted custody battle, Sid was raised on an Exmore farm by his father and a step-mother. Sid believed that it was the combination of his city-bred mother and country-bred father that gave him his unique views concerning the rights of land-ownership for the people of England. Two of my brother’s seven children have his red hair, and very beautiful children they all are. Sid’s passing marks the end of a unique era of English history. He will be missed terribly by his family, we all loved him dearly. RIP dear brother."

Other comments mention that he sometimes took on children not his own, who had been cast adrift by circumstance during the turmoil of the 1960s and 1970s: one such was his adopted son Josh, who was briefly the child-guru of a commune in India (shades of Krishnamurti and Mrs. Besant!), and who somehow arrived at the Polytantric Circle, 99 Torriano Avenue, London, when the commune fell apart. Sid was living nearby, and brought Josh up as his own son.

g88keeper (talk) 02:43, 21 September 2010 (UTC)