Mike Scott and the rest of the Waterboys had been hidden away in Galway writing and recording ‘Fisherman's Blues' and it got its first full public airing in Letham. In fact such was the atmosphere that night, perhaps in combination with copious amounts of Angle Stomp Festival Ale, that the band played away for over three hours, including a rousing version of Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and whatever else seemed to come into Mike's head!

After seven years the Festival had grown in renown and some clown listed it on the net as a ‘free festival'. Aspects of it were indeed free in that a fringe had created itself on Dunnichen Hill, where they could light fires and play on after the main events in the village. However with the arrival of more and more ‘new age travellers' who cared not a whit for the village or the history Robbie took the decision to suspend the main events in the village. The original festival was being put under more and more pressure from ‘the authorities' and came to be blamed for all sorts of behaviour which was not at all their responsibility. Lying fallow for a while seemed wise. Indeed things did degenerate in the next three years until the event was effectively terminated by police control measures, and rightly so. Access to Angus was monitored, never mind road blocks to Dunnichen Hill, and by 1994 the event had been strangled to death.

However, if we could wait 1300 years to celebrate in the first place we could easily wait a decade to recover our very important battle site as a vital piece of cultural heritage. We have in Angus an inspirational place of victory and self-respect. All Angus folk should celebrate the contribution of their ancestors and forefathers to the defence of our ancient realm. Never in English military history has their army been slaughtered to the last man and the king killed on the field of battle. You will find little record of the event in English history, with the contribution from Bede failing to even give a name to the battle.