STAGE STORY
Cramond has been used for punks picnics for years but some of the organisers of European City Of Punk Rock had decided to try and make the Cramond Punks picnic more of an event, for the following years by building a stage. 
The island is covered with concrete bunkers from when it was part of the British defences against coastal attack from the Gerrys. The Forth Bridge was a target, so it had loads of big guns on it and still has these to this day - less the guns!
After the initial idea was hatched and agreed on, a bit of surveying was done and a spot in between two of the bunkers was chosen for building the stage. The thinking being because the walls would act like a sound wall for bands playing and because it faced away from the mainland the locals were less likely to phone the polis! It also had a handy flat bit in front of the stage for the crowd.
GRAFT
Anyway, at the top of the page theres a photo of two honest grafters starting work on stripping out the trees and bushes - and this photo shows the smug faces -who says punks are all lazy bastards?
One day with shears and clippers and the deed was done. Ready for something constructive to happen.
WORK COMMENCES
Day 1 and the first stones laid for the stage, the first bit can quite clearly be seen rising from the ground like a phoenix from the ashes, 3 folks trying to claim the credit this time.
PLAN OF ATTACK
The usual plan of attack was for them to get onto the island early in the morning and get cut off by the tide so they could get on with the work without the locals being a pain in the arse.But going over the narrow causeway with wheelbarrows, shovels, bags of cement, and rucksacks full of beer was too much for the local's curiosity to bear, so they got into the habit of just saying "aye!" to all the stupid questions.
NIGHTMARE
Getting the materials was a fucking nightmare. The sand had to be carried up from the beach, which was about
500m away, and the bricks came from a falling down hoose also about half a kilometre, the water came from the sea - which
involved death defying acts with a bucket, climbing over slippery rocks - and the cement had to be carried over manually which involved a
mile walk along the causeway and over the island. 
FUCKING NIGHTMARE!
WHEELBARROW
A wheelbarrow was bought and cement was the only other expense, all payed for by benefit gigs for ECOPR.
The stage starting to take shape. You'll maybe notice in the middle of the mess of brickwork is a bit that actually looks OK, credit to Al for that bit, that brickwork course paying off, not bad seeing as when he was carrying the gear over to the island a cloud of cement dust went into his face and the lime started burning into his eye. By the time they realised how serious it was, they were marooned, so 6 painful hours later, he made it into the hospital for treatment.
More of the same
It was about now that some bastard found where they hid the wheelbarrow and so the barrow was found minus a wheel in the sea, dragging a
wheelbarrow full of sand along rough ground is not much fun.. after an afternoon of dragging the wheelless wheelbarrow along
the tarmac the front of the barrow was ground to a point!!
DRUM RISER
It was soon realised that the stage was that big, that finding material on the island to fill it with was proving difficult, so the planned drum riser was abandoned. Maybe thats one for next year.
Its about now that the photos dry up, so cut to 1996, sunny August. Edinburgh is the "European City Of Punk Rock" for the 2nd time, throw in a few hundred international punk rockers and a few grooving bands,(bastard sons of fud, Beergut 100, Blockovomit, Bloodshot, Ex-cathedra, Kill-I, Oi Polloi + more) take the stage,and there you have it, the Cramond free festival. The 97 festival continued with the same sort of set-up, and this year again was rocking.
THE BUILDERS
Al,Babs,Duncan,Jane, Jeeves, Nick,Norri,Rick,Tom. The rest o' ye can hang yer head in shame.