Every August, come rain or shine, this field becomes a place so very important to friends and families, who over the years, have shared special times and memories together whilst enjoying the music and unique atmosphere that only this music festival provides.
I first started working with Fairport Convention and the Cropredy Festival in the mid 1970s, before it was even a festival, just a gig after the local village fete. Since then I’ve known exactly where I’ll be for the 2nd weekend of August, every year. So many happy memories from these fields and the extended festival family, some of whom are sadly no longer with us and this memorial pays tribute to quite a few of them.
The tree bears brass plaques commemorating people closely associated with Fairport Convention's music festival which is held in the surrounding fields. Johnny ‘Jonah’ Jones was a stalwart of the festival and when he died his friends fixed a plaque to this oak tree, hence it is now is known among festival-goers as 'Jonah's Oak'.
Jonah was a larger than life character who provided us with many adventures and lasting memories. He was Fairport’s friend, tour manager/agent and also the Cropredy stage manager and festival compere over many years.
You don’t have to be a festival goer to claim this cache, there is a footpath passing it for the rest of the year. The nicest way to access it is to park in the village and take the canal path before turning north, crossing the river Cherwell and reaching the GZ. You can walk down from the road, but it’s a narrow road and used frequently by farm vehicles so don’t try parking along it. There are several other caches around the village and this can be incorporated into a circular walk.
To claim the cache message me the following details -
Who is “Seeing life from both sides now”?
Who made a “canny sound”?
What date did Jonah take his place on “The Ledge”?
I’d like to see pictures with your logs too, it would be nice to record the changes at the site throughout the year. Don’t give away any answers in them though.
You can log immediately but I will remove ones without answers.
If you’re a festival goer, tell us a bit in your log about your time and memories here.
Virtual Rewards 4.0 - 2024-2025
This Virtual Cache is part of a limited release of Virtuals created between January 17, 2024 and January 17, 2025. Only 4,000 cache owners were given the opportunity to hide a Virtual Cache. Learn more about Virtual Rewards 4.0 on the Geocaching Blog.