................... these were Steve and Simon from Species' exact words on a bitter Sunday mornings flyering mission outside the Trinity some six weeks ago. The concept of a collaboration between Species, Strange Fruit and Homegrown to put on four storming Techno parties on four consecutive nights, whilst running a cafe and stall seemed intriguing, and with a spare date in the diary, we all jumped in head first.

Weeks of planning and meetings, gathering stock and blagging anything that wasn't nailed down brought us to the eve of the festival.

Travelling down to Glastonbury on the Tuesday there was a collective certainty that after last years mud bath we were in for a tropical heat wave, and with hats and sun glasses a plenty, the air was full of anticipation.

Even running out of petrol on the edge of the festival could not dampen our spirits and we headed in to find the most marvellous 60 x 40 foot marquee waiting for us.

The rest of the collective soon arrived and we had 24 hours to transform the bare marquee into a our home for the next week. The system arrived courtesy of Sam Brook and the Oftec crew, backdrops were put up, a video wall put into place and after much sweating the freezer units arrived. Things were coming together. The Tuesday night was spent drinking and discussing possible outcomes which soon became a quality control session on the stock of smoking paraphernalia we had acquired to sell on the stall. On trying to light a fire, we discovered the wood wouldn't bum, could this be a sign? There was to be no turning back.

Wednesday morning saw the cafe built and the Herbal High side of the marquee come together, people were arriving on mass and there was sufficient interest in what we were doing to keep the buoyant mood afloat.

Interface pirate radio turned up and started setting up high tech equipment to broadcast the parties live on the internet world-wide, using two cameras, one to record the crowds and the other trained on the decks and DJ.

By 7:00pm we were up and trading although not to the full extent and around midnight the tent was closed up for a final nights rest. (Quite an achievement with 6-8 DJs and a fully operational sound system in place!)

Thursday morning saw larger crowds, sunny weather the stall trading to its full extent, (cafe, paraphernalia, mix tapes, herbal highs, hats, and sale of the day, Jon Little selling a pair of pink heart shaped sun glasses to a WPC.) Chill out music crept from the 5k Turbo sound system, and people were sitting inside the marquee soaking up the Glastonbury experience.

The environmental health people pay a visit and pass the cafe as OK. Radio I conduct interviews on ecstasy testing kits with bemused members of our crew and more faces from Bristol show up to say hello.

At 11.30pm we could wait no more, bring on the techno!! After some deliberation about who was going to be first to kick things off, Haze stepped up and let the first 4/4's come crashing out much to the delight of the ever increasing crowd, after a brief warm up period we were soon into the full on Bristol sound and the unique atmosphere had turned electric with excitable technoheads leaping about wildly all over the tent ... and that was just us!

Species DJ Si Mclean followed to further raise the temperature with a storming set of seamlessly mixed techno trance, which progressed into bangin' acid techno courtesy of Tim Harley and Jon little, punctuated by the springy techno sounds of Oftec's Colinizer. This sneak preview wound up at approximately 4:30am, leaving the crowd wanting more, but with three more nights to go we didn't want to push our luck.

The atmosphere created on this first night surpassed anything any of us had ever experienced either at a free party or a club night and the adrenaline levels were reaching titanic proportions. The added element of going out live world-wide on the internet as well as the prospect of three more parties to follow was too much for any one of us to comprehend at this stage.

Friday morning and once again the cafe was in full flow, many people had stayed for breakfast or had returned to thank us for the night before and many more party people from Bristol were now making an appearance in the tent. An overall community feeling was starting to develop. (Its nice to have lots of people you know around you at Glastonbury as added security against some of the elements the festival attracts).

After two days of dry weather the rain was now making sporadic bursts amongst periods of blazing sunshine which meant several sessions of running in and out of the tent with the hats and shades ..... please stop before it gets muddy', was the thought on everyone's minds! Before we knew it the evening was upon us again and the knowing glances between the crew created once again a feeling of anticipation for the night to come. Midnight arrived and it was time again to crank up the sounds after some excellent chilled sets during the day (and most days) from Sarwar, Tim Spin, Tim Harley, Si Mclean, Haze and Dr Chill amongst others.

The rain had been steadily falling for several hours by now, and being on slightly lower ground than the rest of the market, we soon found ourselves slowly sinking, but there was a party going on, so how bad could it be? Si Mclean followed by Luge, Haze, and Dave Wired once again turned the now muddy masses into a stomping frenzied ball of energy and things were going swimmingly before we realised that ourselves, the stock and half the electrical equipment were now stood in over twelve inches of pure Glastonbury liquefied mud.

It was all hands to the pump out the back of the kitchen area as a flowing torrent of mud was frantically bailed out the back door to no avail.

After successfully covering ourselves in mud and wondering what the glamour side of promoting was all about, (we did meet a lady who was introduced as Nigel from Eastenders screen girlfriend who had been largin it), some quick decisions were made to stop the party before anything went pear shaped and also to survey the damage and clean up in time for Saturday.

Diplomacy was called for and an announcement over the mike was met with a largely understanding crowd who appreciated our dilemma and slowly cleared the tent at 3:30am, to reveal what could only be described as a war zone. However the bacon must go on and after a major effort and a lot of pushing mud around with a broom, the cafe once again emerged from the chaos. By this point most of the crew were losing the plot as a sunny Glastonbury experience had turned into a physical and mental endurance test. The surreal sight of people stomping through mountains of mud to order a bacon and egg roll from our shit covered kitchen and crew was sometimes to much. We were in the lap of the Gods and we had to let everything flow and go with it, much the same as the rivers of mud flowed through the kitchen on the previous night.

Saturdays weather bag could offer us little in the way of sun, so with little to cheer about it was only a matter of time before a party kicked off.

The proceedings opened with some dodgey house tunes much to the disgust of the crew. It suddenly became clear that the Internet link up had been sponsored by a label called Rococo and this was one of their DJ's. Playing Sash's Encore un fois was the final nail for this guy as the Bristol posse reclaimed the decks and kicked the party off Techno style.

The usual suspects followed (Si Mclean, Tim Harley, Jon Little and finishing off Haze and Luge) along with Daley to provide a quality atmosphere and a f*ck the weather we're 'avin it! attitude.

A 6:30 am finish was met by rumours that comedy actor Robin Williams had been largin it in our tent. These were soon dispelled when it was realised that it was in fact Robbie Williams, keeping up his tradition of avin it at Glastonbury. Sunday morning and another mud fest was waiting inside the Marquee.

However with some top level blagging and a quick twenty quid we managed to get a shit sucker to suck the mud up, firming the ground up for the final episode in what was becoming for us a four day technofest.

Numbers were depleting as people started to bail out, abandoning all their belongings and getting out as fast as possible. We were standing our ground and looking forward to our last party with lots of guests coming into play, who we had met over the weekend.

After virtually giving up on the cafe, operations were strean-lined for a no holds barred finale. Again the collaborating organisations Species, Strange Fruit and Homegrown resident DJs converged with mud covered record boxes and threw caution to the wind to ram the tent out and 'ave it in true Bristol style one last time. We were joined on this occasion by Alex Silverfish from Eukatech.

Proceedings carried on until 8:00am Monday morning and when the system wound down for the last time a void was created which was soon filled with the sense of achievement that we had put on four blinding parties on four consecutive nights in virtually impossible conditions and we were still in one piece, despite the total lack of any help from festival organisers.

The health and safety was a total farce, as was the market staff and security. We were met with promises of pallets, woodchippings and hay, none of which materialised. The only help we got was by paying £20.00 to a mud sucking lorry, which considering the amount a pitch costs, is right out of order. Apparently £75,000 was supposedly spent on drainage, but it appeared the drain was blocked and right under our tent! (Sorry, had to have a moan after keeping a stiff upper lip all week!) We left Glastonbury safe in the knowledge that the Herbal High and Flying Saucer big top had produced the best techno party on site over the whole weekend and provided punters with 24 hour entertainment and refuge from the weather conditions when others had given up.

Thanks to everyone who 'mucked' in and helped to keep the tent and the vibe going all weekend. You know who you are.