A Glastonbury Portaloo toilet cabin thought to have been used by some of the world’s leading rock stars has been saved from demolition following a successful on-line campaign by public toilet enthusiasts to save the prestigious facility from destruction.
A Facebook page set up by fans of the outdoor public toilet facility- alerting the public to the plight of the condemned Portaloo -soon attracted over 1m followers, with many others (mostly women) desperate to use the Facebook facility but forced to wait patiently in a queue outside.
The campaign was soon taken up by the music press, with NME, Kerrang and Q Magazine lending support from the start.
One toilet enthusiast said he would be looking at NME in a completely different light following their support for the campaign and would even consider reading it next time he bought a copy...’some people might think teaming up with NME readers to save a tired old relic from going down the pan seems an unlikely partnership but hey.... we always knew their expertise would come in handy.
Other campaigners had a foot in both camps
’I come here to lend my support every day’ said one toilet enthusiast struggling with the buttons on his raincoat ‘somebody has drilled a little hole in the wall, so if you climb on the seat in the next cubicle and stand on tiptoe, you can peep in and see what’s going on. And to think Mama Cass may have shat on that plank’
But for others, the portaloo will only ever be that special place where rock stars took a dump.
‘For many people the facility is little more than a hole in the ground with a plank across it and a battered old plastic door to stop people watching’ said Privvy Watch organiser and veteran festival goer Mistral Peacecloud ‘but to us it is a part of our rock heritage. It’s probably the only public toilet here in the UK that George Michael hasn’t had oral sex in yet....yes, it’s that unique’
With just hours to spare the campaigners were rewarded for their candle-lit vigil with a last minute reprieve.
It is thought the enthusiasts, some of them veterans from the Newbury by-pass campaign, may have delayed the demolition of the portaloo by entering the cabin under darkness - sliding the little red ‘in use’ sign across the door and sneaking out through the back.
But demolition workers at the site, tricked into thinking someone was actually using the toilet became suspicious when after three weeks of waiting patiently outside, they had still heard no flush from inside the cabin.
Although it is known artists such as Patti Smith, Marc Bolan, Ozzy Osbourne, Rolf Harris and Joan Baez have all undoubtedly taken a dump in the toilet, some of the stories surrounding the facility are nothing more than romantic fiction.
The new custodians of the porta-loo admitted it was just an urban myth that Howard Wall, the then lead singer of seminal punk band The Lurkers had gone missing while taking a crap on the plank. Legend has it that Wall fell into the murky, turd filled mosh-pit while rolling a joint and despite frenzied attempts by scat jazz legend Cleo Laine to revive him, fell beneath the heaving pile of crap and was never seen again.
The truth is, Howard did fall into the pit but he was rescued by a group of Hari Krishna followers who heard his calls for help. Howard actually emigrated to Australia soon after the incident and now runs a book shop in Melbourne with one of the Slits.
The porta-loo, now safely ensconced in the Rock Hall of Fame (second on the left just down the corridor) already has a Blue plaque placed on the door with an enormous arrow pointing downwards ....BONO SHIT HERE....although evidently this is not to celebrate the fact that the U2 lead singer had once taken a dump in the hole but it was instructions for the Irish numpty to follow, explaining what he should do if he ever found himself in a toilet alone.
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Sweet smell of success for Portaloo campaigners
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Gerontius
offlineMemberPosted 1 year ago #
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