GLASTONBURY Festival founder Michael Eavis' dream of building 50 social houses ahead of the event's 50th anniversary took another step closer to becoming a reality yesterday - with the help of Jeremy Corbyn. 

The Labour leader was in Somerset to help celebrate the beginning of the final stage of Mr Eavis' project in Pilton.

“These are houses for village people to live in and they will never be sold,” Mr Eavis said.

“My dream was to have 50 houses available for the festival’s 50th anniversary in 2020.

"Today we are one step nearer to making that dream a reality.”


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The first building project started in 1990 as 10 houses known as ‘Oathills’, the original name of the field.

Then, 10 years later came the completion of ‘John Burn’s Cottages’, 12 houses funded by Hastoe Housing.

The land and the stone were provided free of charge from Worthy Farm, with contributions for dressing the stone from the Workers Beer Company, who provide bars at the festival, which runs across the last weekend of June most years.

HRH Prince Charles opened John Burn’s Cottages and met the tenants in 2010.

Somerset County Gazette:

Now, the festival has completed another 13 houses, working with the Guinness Partnership and builders EG Carter, known as ‘Maggie’s Farm’.

These were visited by David Beckham durign the 2017 festival, with the football megastar planting a walnut tree at the site.

Plans are now well ahead to complete the whole scheme with a further 15 houses to make a total of 50, which will coincide with the festival’s 50th anniversary year, 2020.

Meanwhile, the festival has announced the dates for the 2019 event, with 2018 being a 'fallow year'.

The Glastonbury Festival in 2019 will run from June 26 to 30.