Western Daily Press (Saturday)
A life less ordinary for punk rocker Viva
After that I never ever asked for a job – the
phone just kept ringing. I worked at Glastonbury for 30 years and only retired when I was 80
VIVA HAMNELL
BRITAIN’S oldest punk rocker who turned her back on life as a lollipop lady is still wowing crowds – aged 88.
Great-grandmother Viva Hamnell was already 45 and working as a school crossing patrol when punk exploded in the mid 1970s.
But she soon found herself at the centre of scene when a chat in a pub one night led to her joining punk band The Bricks as a backing singer.
And in the decades that followed she never lost her love of alternative music and became a central figure in some of Britain’s most popular festivals, including Glastonbury. She spent 30 years as part of the team involved in organising the festival at Worthy Farm.
Now, approaching her 90s, she has been booked to appear at a festival this weekend to talk about her extraordinary life between bands young enough to be her grandchildren. She will be one of the star attractions at the Bangers & Mashup festival near Redruth, Cornwall, when she appears on stage today.
Viva will recall her heady days of DIY music, radical politics and scratch festivals through a series of true tales pulled from her handbag of memories. She will present Viva’s Beer Crate Moment – a series of vignettes charting her many and varied experiences.
In 1977, as punk had exploded
across the country, Viva was a 45-year-old mum and a school lollipop lady who had moved to a secluded farmhouse in Cornwall just three years earlier to try and get over the breakdown of her marriage.
Along with her son, Simon, and some of his pals, she formed The Bricks, a “fun punk band” that gigged throughout the region for several years.
Viva soon found herself leading an unlikely double life – as a lollipop lady by day and a backing singer with 21 year-old son Simon’s punk rockers The Bricks – by night.
The popular seven piece band – generally acknowledged as Cornwall’s first punk outfit – soon gained a cult following.
She said: “Punk just brought something alive in me. We were gigging five times a week at clubs, pubs and festivals. I was the only sober one so I drove the van – and by the time I’d dropped everyone off it would often be four in the morning.
“Because I was so much older – and a mum and lollipop lady – we got a lot of publicity, particularly because I’d dress as a boy scout.
“But the truth is I had no talent at all – I couldn’t sing, but it didn’t seem to matter back then.”
Like a lot of bands, The Bricks burned bright for a short time and then were gone. But if Viva thought her life might get quieter, she was mistaken.
She had an unexpected brush with the law when police raided her home in 1979 and charged her with grow
ing ally And cannabis, cleared a chance in before court. meeting she was with eventu- Peregrine St Germans, owner of the Port Eliot Estate, resulted in the start of Elephant Fayre, a music festival still talked about by those who attended it. Viva played there, compered stages and ran the gate from 1981 to 1986, the year the site was trashed the site that effectively ended the festival.
However, Viva’s reputation had spread site manager and she at went Glastonbury, on to work as in charge of a huge workforce for 30 years.
She added: “After that I never ever asked for a job – the phone just kept ringing. I worked at Glastonbury for 30 years and only retired when I was 80.”
Viva will be sharing more of her reminiscences today at Bangers & Mash-Up – just before Still Hate Thatcher play, fittingly.
The festival runs until tomorrow and is aimed at “one and all” so tickets are just £5 each.
With finance from key backers such as the Arts Council, Cornwall Council, Feast and Crowdfunder, and with the support of Emily Eavis from Glastonbury, Bangers & MashUp has been described as a truly independent event, with a mission to introduce a new “fairism into festivals”. It’s the brainchild of Binrat and Niddy, both regular and experienced artists and crew across a range of leading UK festivals.