Letters: Peterborough ravers can help create a people's history of rave culture

I am dance music journalist and historian Matt Anniss, author of Join The Future: Bleep Techno and the Birth of British Bass Music (Velocity Press), and I have created an online survey where former and current Peterborough-based ravers can share their experiences and memories of free parties and illegal ‘pay-raves’ they have attended in Cambridgeshire, Suffolk and Norfolk, since 1989.

Those filling in the survey, which can be accessed via http://tinyurl.com/rave-research, will also be given the chance to put themselves forward for a one-on-one online interview later in the year, when they will be given the chance to talk in detail about their rave experiences and what they meant.

The research survey is open to anyone who has attended at least one rave in East Anglia between 1989 and 2019, including dancers, DJs, sound system crew members, DJs and party organisers.

In the research, those who take part will be anonymised – meaning they can share their experiences, and what they meant to them, with confidence.

Rave culture can be a controversial topic, with unlicensed and illegal events sometimes causing disruption to residents and landowners.

However, raves can also provide transformative experiences for young people and evidence suggests that they have been part of cultural life in Cambridgeshire and the surrounding region for almost 36 years – and have occurred at a greater scale and frequency than in other parts of the UK.

During the acid house and rave era, Peterborough was home to a vibrant dance music community, including producers Shades of Rhythm, who had success in the singles charts with tracks including ‘Sweet Sensation’ and ‘Spirit of Eden’.

Ravers in Peterborough regularly travelled to other parts of the region to attend illegal raves and ‘free parties’, so called because no admittance fee was charged, throughout the 1990s, 2000s and 2010s.

Peterborough was a hotbed of dance music culture in the late 80s and 90s. I know from my previous visits to the city and conversations with locals that illegal raves have been very popular at different times over the last 35 years.

I’m keen to hear about those events and the experiences people had at them. I’d encourage anyone who has attended one or more raves in East Anglia to fill in my online survey.

With your contributions, I can create an extensive and detailed ‘people’s history’.

For more information about the PhD research project, head to www.jointhefuture.net/rave-research.

To fill in the online research survey, go to www.tinyurl.com/rave-research.

Matt Anniss