The grimy Glastonbury Festival in England, running since 1970, has been declared a success despite incessant heavy rains, which created a mud-fest that resulted in 1,200 injuries.

"It's gone very well in spite of the rain, in spite of the mud," festival founder Michael Eavis said on Sunday. Eavis owns the farm in Somerset that has been the festival's home since the inaugural festival 37 years ago.

Singer Shirley Bassey wears a pair of diamante-studded rubber boots during her Sunday performance at the three-day Glastonbury music festival.
(Jon Super/Associated Press)

"The drains have actually worked, believe it or not … the show compensates for the weather."

Eavis spent more than $1.5 million US on flood prevention measures after the 2005 festival, when hundreds of tents were washed away in flash floods. 

He called off the festival in 2006, saying it would be a "fallow year" for his field.

Glastonbury is considered the world's largest greenfield music and performing arts event.

A record 177,500 music fans attended the three-day festival featuring a range of acts on 44 stages. Most of the injuries were due to people slipping on the ground.

Many concertgoers donned rubber boots and frolicked in the mud.

Revellers endured muddy and wet conditions at the annual festival, held for the past 37 years at Worthy Farm in Somerset.
(Yui Mok/Associated Press)

Welsh singer Shirley Bassey took to the Pyramid stage early Sunday evening in a pink sequined gown, belting out songs such as Hey Big Spender in front of thousands of mud-caked fans.

Bassey's set launched the evening of the festival's last day, with the Who and Kaiser Chiefs bringing the 2007 event to a close.

A few dozen arrests

Fans were treated to a multitude of performances during the famous festival, from the likes of Canadian indie darlings Arcade Fire to Amy Winehouse, Manic Street Preachers, the Gossip, Iggy Pop, Bjork and the Arctic Monkeys.

Local police praised the peaceful nature of the festival. One death, of a 26-year-old man, has been reported.  Police said they suspected a drug overdose.

Rock icon Iggy Pop gets his teeth into his performance on Saturday.
(Anthony Devlin/Associated Press)

By Sunday morning, 236 crimes had been reported, compared to 267 in 2005, with a few dozen arrests.

"It proves that Glastonbury is a safer event," Sgt. Hardy Husain of the Avon and Somerset Constabulary told BBC News.

"The organizers, the police and the local authority have worked very well together. Security has been improved everywhere across the site."

The festival, true to its activist roots, will be donating part of the profits to three charities: Oxfam, WaterAid and Greenpeace. In the past, other charities have benefited, including aid to Sudan in 2004 and the Make Poverty History campaign in 2005.

There were solar-powered showers and wind turbine mobile chargers available on site as well as free, recycled toilet paper.

Ticket holders have been encouraged to leave their tents behind so organizers can donate them to countries in need.