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There were about 20 Ely for Europe members waiting for the 9.17 train to London... and some people from our town they'd never met before - clearly all the leafleting we did had an impact! The group arranged to meet the people heading from King's Lynn on the first coach. The train was absolutely packed, and Ely for Europe passed People's Vote stickers around. Most of the people on board were going to the march. The oldest spotted must have been in his eighties. The youngest around 5, and he and his sister had made their own placards on paper plates. 

Members from Southeast Cambs were supposed to join at Waterbeach and Cambridge North, but the train was so packed that they had to wait for the next one. The train was still full, with a very high and visible number of marchers, after leaving Cambridge with an additional 4 coaches. 

Ely for Europe's members have a tendency to scatter for marches! Some got on the bus from Cambridge, some got an earlier train, some got a later train, some drove. There were over 120 attendees for Ely and Southeast Cambs. 

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Three full coaches left Stroud on Saturday, after picking up from Gloucester and Cirencester. Stopping on the way in Reading services,  it was inspiring to see a sea of blue and gold, as other marchers from other areas also took a break from their journey.
On reaching London the sight was incredible, as swathes of marchers began to meet. The group joined them and, although there have been many marches over the years, most have never been part of something so huge and so special. There were many members of Glostays for whom this was their first experience! They were mesmerised by the whole event. There were lots of children who will never forget being part of this. There were also some leavers who have now seen the travesty that is unfolding and have changed their mind. Hats off to them. 

 Glostays left London at the end of the day, having signed up many more activists, who will now become part of the fight to stop Brexit. The group will continue to demand a people’s vote and make ourselves heard. The March was peaceful, exhilarating and hopeful. It made many feel proud of the country for the first time in a long time. 

Find out more about Glostays on their facebook, twitter and website

At just before 6:30am last Saturday, 18 people loaded flags and banners into the hold of a coach and clambered aboard to start their road trip from Macclesfield through the market towns of Staffordshire, where they would pick up their fellow People’s Vote campaigners, and South to London to join the hundreds of thousands of like-minded people converging for what they hoped would be the biggest political march of the year. Half an hour later another 18 campaigners climbed aboard in Leek bringing with them more flags, banners, campaign T-shirts and even a box of cakes.

The coach made further pickups in Stone, Stafford, Rugeley and Lichfield and by 9:00am forty four campaigners were heading to London. Campaign t-shirts and cake were handed out. Mike Ottewell,72, from Cheddleton, the chairman of Staffs4Europe which organised the coach, stood to express his thank to Hugh Hudson and Peter Coates for their generous sponsorship which had enabled two coaches, including ours, to take campaigners from Stoke on Trent and Staffordshire to the march.

Although the group included a number of seasoned campaigners many were heading to their first campaign march, the Brexit mess created by the politicians having motivated them to take a stand. “Whatever your views on Brexit and the EU, the politicians have messed it up. The people need to take back control and decide when the facts are known. I hope we will Remain but if it’s a fair vote on the facts and people choose to Leave, then I’d go with that, but not this mess”, said one campaigner echoing the views of many.

Jamie Morrison, 9, from Leek, our youngest campaigner said “I’ve already started to learn Spanish and French. I don’t know what I want to do for a career yet but I don’t want my opportunity to travel and study in Europe to be affected by Brexit.”

His mum, Susannah, 51, a supporter of Scientists for EU and an NHS public health nurse she said she was attending the march because "My main interest is the NHS and I think it is at risk” and because she is concerned about important environmental protections saying “ I fear they will be trashed.” Susannah describes herself as “a British and European citizen” and wants “our children to have the same opportunities we had had to live, work and study in Europe”. She acknowledged “the sacrifices past generations made to secure peace across Europe, to develop laws which have greatly benefited the UK, and which are extremely important for our future security, prosperity and well-being as a nation.”

The group arrived in London to glorious sunshine. With one glance around it was clear that this was going to be big. After posing for a group photo, they headed off to join the march at Marble Arch. The route down Park Lane was already packed and the group was soon absorbed into the mass of people.

The atmosphere was friendly, conversations were struck with strangers: about their banners, where they had travelled from, why they were marching. Young, middle aged, old from every walk of life and every corner of the country. Our “Staffordshire’s Not for Brexit” T-shirts featuring the Staffordshire knot attracted much attention. “Staffordshire!” exclaimed one lady, “It’s good to see you here.” It was surprising how many people in the crowd had Staffordshire connections and were keen to introduce themselves. Some asked where they could get one of Staff4Europe's T-shirts and they sold all their spares but didn’t have enough to meet the demand. Who knew Staffordshire was so loved? The group is very proud! 

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The Hampshire European bus was parked by King Alfred statue in the historic city of Winchester. The driver was Polish, a good omen for the People's March on London. The bus trip organiser, Milan, was raised in the Czech Republic and is their best known European activist who has held information stalls in Winchester's High Street on regular Saturday mornings for 2 years. The fifty plus Winchester residents encompassed a complete age range of men and women from the city with the over eighties mingling with students from the University of Winchester.

The sun shone throughout the journey to the final destination opposite the Dorchester Hotel by Hyde Park. Ian, the Hampshire European movement chair, commented that anything less than 100,000 protesters on the march to Parliament Square might be reckoned a failure. By the time, they regrouped at 1:15 PM for the march, the roads leading to Marble Arch led them to believe 500,000 might be a realistic estimate of the actual numbers on parade. The group waited for an hour, many chatting with groups who had come from all over the country carrying banners which identified their geographical grouping or the cause which they most identified with – the NHS, teachers, local authority workers, students, the very young, and grandchildren who might, as they grow up, be deprived of the European connection in future years.

Some of the protesters had mass-produced colourful banners with familiar wording, others carried banners with coloured photographs of eminent Brexiters, all named. One banner, in particular, held by young woman swaying hypnotically to a nearby drumbeat caught my eye. She held out a photograph of Boris and David Cameron grinning at each other with the words 'Eton mess'.

They slowly clambered over barriers, the young assisting the old, till by chance we were reunited with some of Milan's Winchester group. I took a photograph of a most original banner, a version of Banksy's shredded picture recently auctioned by Sotheby's: this time, the word Brexit was being shredded as it emerged from the picture frame.

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The Oswestry and North Shropshire branch of the European Movement was well represented at the Peoples Vote March in London on 20^th October. Despite some of founding and core members being unable to attend due to illness and family commitments, the group has grown so much that there were still more attending in October than in June. Some members made their way to London independently while a group joined friends from the nearby Open Britain Shrewsbury group to travel down by coach. The combined groups took one coach in June, but four coaches this time, with some from the Oswestry EM group managing one of the coaches.

They set off from Shrewsbury at 7am – so the first #PVRoadTrip pictures are in the dark! All four coaches managed to regroup at Oxford services for a photo of the 200 plus group and their respective banners. Once all four coaches had arrived in London, the group gathered in Park Lane. They were to remain on Park Lane for the next two hours, with fly overs from helicopters giving them reason to wave and whistle. European Movement Oswestry and North Shropshire were at the time unaware of the reason behind the long wait to march and only later became aware of the huge size of the march and that other 'holding' areas had been 'released' first. As in June, the overwhelming impression was of how polite and understanding everyone was of the delays and large crowds. 

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One percent of the UK population converged on London this weekend in one of the biggest protest marches in UK history. Buses from Inverness, Truro and everywhere in-between. Standing-room only on Saturday trains to London. Expats flying home from across the continent to stand up and – finally – be counted. 700,000 people walked shoulder-to-shoulder to make our voice heard, and demand a people’s vote.

West Kent was well represented at the march – Sevenoaks and Swanley Together In Europe (SSTIE) marched with a group of 70 local people (including several new members who had joined in the past fortnight), plus we carried the names of 45 people who were unable to attend on the day. Perfect weather contributed to an almost bucolic atmosphere.

The tide is beginning to turn!

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Last Friday night was the launch party of the Four Freedoms Pale Ale, a project between Clarkshaws Brewery and a group of South London pro Europeans. Performing was an ensemble made up of local band, the Alabama Three's membership. It was a great night and over one hundred people came from across London, including Wandsworth and Merton, to enjoy the night. 

Roughly a year ago, three campaigners commissioned a beer from our local craft brewery on a small run, to then share out among friends and fellow campaigners. This beer was called the Four Freedoms, a play on the now all too familiar term which describes our relationship with Europe but more importantly an amusing name for our project. The group had a lot of fun working with the brewers, Clarkshaws of Loughborough Junction and the beer was received positively by all. 

After discussing with the brewers, it was decided, that the group would be happy to see the beer have a wider commercial run. The label designer was on board and so we all got to work. We agreed to promote the beer to wider circles in Wandsworth & Merton and Lambeth and arrange a launch party. Fast forward a few months and it had all got a bit grander. A European Movement Wandsworth volunteer had arranged for the band to come play and a much bigger venue was needed. There was also a lot of support from the European Movement itself, who were pleased that we had found a fun project to work on locally.

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