Thank you to everyone who came out in the rain on Saturday morning to help us plant our tree (a Cox Orange Pippin) in Lampton Park in Hounslow and show that opposition to the Third Runway has strong roots! We were especially grateful to Friends of the Earth for supporting us and NoTrag.
It was a great team effort from us at West London Greenpeace. Ollie saved the day by bringing a marquee. We hurriedly put it up at 11am and that allowed the gathered crowd to huddle under the marquee throughout the talks and tree planting. Rebecca and Saad made a brilliant picture of a tree with separate apples that people could write their messages on and stick on the tree. Anabel provided the crucial tree itself. Rollo brought his toffee apples (he blogged the recipe and process on friday) and Simona had baked a delicious apple custard flan.
Ollie gave a sterling opening speech in his dashing aviator outfit at the start. Ollie lightened the rainy mood with an interactive quiz about trees and ended rousingly on a serious note with "No third runway - not now, not ever!"
We were also joined by some of Hounslow's Prospective Parliamentary Candidates, a local councillor and other local groups. A number of our guests made short speeches. We heard from Mary MacLeod (Conservative), Andrew Dakers (Liberal Democrat), John Hunt (Green), Local Labour Councillor Ruth Cadbury and Christine Taylor from the NoTrag group. All of our speakers were so generous in giving us their time and support, braving the weather and shouting over the relentless noise of aeroplanes overheard. Certainly, Hounslow residents know better than anyone on the UK how much flying is going on. That said, Andrew Dakers best articulated what is at stake from increased aviation and reminded Hounslow that this must not be a NIMBY issue, but that we must build on the local residents' direct knowledge of Heathrow expansion to educate people about the much wider and more devastating contribution of aviation towards climate change. Christine Taylor also expressed how residents of Sipson, the village threatened by the runway, had come to understand the seriousness of climate change by working alongside groups like Greenpeace and the World Development Movement in fighting the third runway.
Christine Taylor had also been helping Greenpeace on friday with planting the orchard in Sipson as part of Airplot. This is on land which Greenpeace own bang-on the proposed third runway site. Christine had toured poet laureate Carol Ann Duffy around Sipson the day before and passed us on some wise words.
After the speeches and comments, the three PPC's all gathered to plant the apple tree with the assistance of Glenn from the council. Photo's were taken, as seen on this blog, and everyone celebrated by tucking into the toffee apples and apple tart.
And the fight continues! We hope to see our tree grow to maturity, alongside those on Sipson's orchard, and outlast these misguided plans for a third runway. That's the challenge now. As our ceremony coincided with us hearing of BAA's appointment of an architect for Heathrow expansion, the fight is definitely still on!
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