Did you see Pink Floyd in concert?

Matt LeBlanc, Kevin Phillips and Iman WHAT has become of the old British qualities of tolerance and fair comment? Is the UK the last bastion of snobbery? The ‘running sore’ of the handling of the ‘travellers’ continues; and they receive scant empathy from local authorities or people. Way back in the 1970s/80s, my wife and I became motorcaravanners, after years of tents, trailer tents and with children, now adults and parents, we were now free to explore our world. We frequently met travellers during those early years, homeless because of negative equity and unemployment and most of them going with even younger children. We found them all open and cheerfully optimistic, being young. The term ‘travellers’ then seemed innocuous. They are now openly despised and given every undeserved callous disregard. During our own excursions in Europe, we found there were always facilities especially in rural areas where similar people stay overnight or longer without being physically moved on. They actually brought trade to local shops. Even the service on the autoroutes gave rest to campervans. Closer to home, surely something could be provided? Former RAF airfields could be made available at a peppercorn rent and with basic facilities they could become a lifeline to rural traders already finding difficulties prevailing at present. So, Mrs May, get your Home Secretary active on this front. I for one feel the present problem could further escalate. With ever increasing property prices and high rentals, I hope Travellers on public land in Nuneaton in October 2015 this government can view this burgeoning problem. It could even save your ailing party’s fortunes. Incidentally, there will always be litter where there are no bins. Geoffrey Pears Corley I AM researching a book about psychedelic rockers Pink Floyd, famed for their 1979 hit Another Brick In The Wall and their fabulous stage effects, including the inflatable pig Algie who once slipped his moorings at Battersea Power Station and flew off across London. Before selling out arenas around the world, Pink Floyd started out playing smaller venues, including three visits to Coventry’s Locarno Ballroom in May 1967, May 1969 and February 1972 along with Warwick University in June 1967.

I’m interested in capturing people’s memories of these gigs for posterity and hopefully in the process telling the band’s story in a slightly different way via first-hand accounts of their earliest shows.

I’d love to hear from anyone who saw them in their early career and I can be reached at isawpinkfloyd@gmail.com. Richard Houghton Manchester