FAIRPORT Convention may be best known for their annual reunion at Cropredy.

But the celebrated Oxfordshire-based band grabbed their own piece of rock history when they performed at the Glastonbury Festival last weekend.

For while the likes of Bruce Springsteen and Neil Young attracted bigger crowds than the folk-rock favourites, Fairport can lay claim to the title of the great Glastonbury survivors.

The band were there at the very first Glastonbury Festival back in 1971 when they appeared at the Glastonbury Fayre, timed to coincide with the summer solstice in June.

The event featured the first Pyramid Stage built near a ley line. Other acts included David Bowie, Pink Fairies, Hawkwind, Arthur Brown, Melanie and Joan Baez.

Fairport can even claim to have been at the event that inspired Glastonbury, the Bath Festival of Blues and Progressive Music in 1970.

When the Glastonbury Festival began, entry for the lucky 1,500 was £1 – and included free milk.

The band’s longest serving member Simon Nicol, of Chipping Norton, who has been in the band since 1967, said: “We were back to play on the acoustic stage and the audience was fantastic. I think a few people wandered in to see what we were like 40 years down the road.

“We don’t play many festivals in the summer because we don’t want to be in competition with our own festival. But Glastonbury is special.

“However, it did feel a bit like a smash and grab raid – very different from Cropredy, where we top the bill.”

But in true rock and roll tradition, Nicol’s recollection of subsequent visits is a little vague.

He said: “We were there in 1984 and I reckon we went back in the 1990s.”

For bass player Dave Pegg a Glastonbury highlight last weekend was being asked to join Kinks legend Ray Davies on stage for an unrehearsed version of his hit All Day and All Of The Night.

Sadly, Fairport were unable to enjoy any post-gig partying – they headed off to France, to perform in a folk-rock opera.

Cropredy Festival takes place from August 13-15.