Runnymede Eco Village; Call Security!

Dismaland closed today with this on the park website;

 

                                               Coming soon… Dismaland Calais.

All the timber and fixtures from Dismaland are being sent to the ‘jungle’ refugee camp near Calais to build shelters. No online tickets will be available.

 



I was struck by the similarity between this picture and what I saw this morning - I went for a walk in the woods along Cooper's Hill lane in Egham.

It's beautiful;

But I wasn't just there for the view, nice as it was. I was there to record what happened at The Runnymede Eco Village after the Bailiffs had trashed the place; 

When you walk around the perimeter fence, you pass from one destroyed home to another;

A scene of utter devastation;

Wherever you look there are items of furniture; chairs, beds;

While I was there, I was working up the dogs - they were running around barking at me;

And quite soon I got into a confrontation with a camera shy security guard;

They wanted me off and I don't respond very well to threats. As you can see, I don't do what I'm told either.

I'm afraid I've never been very good at multitasking so I don't have any shots of our confrontation!

The guards seem to be from eastern Europe and spent part of their time at least, picking through the wreckage of the village.

This is who they work for; 'GallowGlass security';

Formed in 1999, this is a fairly secretive organisation which is probably what you would expect. They specialise in two areas - 'Bailiff Support' which is what this is and also in 'Event Management'.

Amongst other things they were hired to build the fence around the Glastonbury Festival in 2013 and for all I know they may still be doing it.

Now I'm no hippy so you won't find me down at Glastonbury but I would have thought that these are not the kind of people you want running your security.

This is what they are best at;

The villagers had no time to gather their belongings - apart from children there were animals too;

And clothes;

The Peace Flag is still flying;

Anyway, it occurred to me after I had my little argument with security (didn't stop me did it?) - it must be costing the developers more than a few hundred pounds a day guarding the site.

Just suppose people came along every so often, just to wake up the dogs and keep the guards moving about.

It's a very pleasant walk;

Quite beautiful really;

Apart from the development site, Coopers Hill is full of public footpaths or paths that are permitted use by The National trust.

We should make more use of them because the longer the guards are there the more it costs the developers.

 

 

By the way, a 'GallowGlas' is a Scots/Norse mercenary. Not very nice people at all.

 

I would probably call them 'Housecarls' myself - more AngloSaxon and a better description of these thugs.

 

Neil Harris

(a don't stop till you drop production)

 

Home: helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com

Contact me: neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com

 

52000 Thanx! and a last Update on the Runnymede Eco camp.

 

 

I should be celebrating 52000 views but I've just had a really lousy day.

 

Robyn had to go up to London to sort out some documents.

The idea was to go up, sort things out and then go on and do something; the problem was that it poured with rain all day.

 

I ended up in the street getting soaked for an hour while I waited around then when we came home I got stuck in the rush hour and nearly lost it crammed in on the tube.

 

It really hurt!

 

I felt lousy but there was worse to come.

 

I've Blogged about the Runnymede Eco Camp many times and I was lucky enough to visit them in 2014. Back then I intended to spend a night there occasionally to support them but because I was a carer it never worked out.

 

Then I broke my back and that was the end of that.

 

It was an idyllic place, inhabited by families, children and some vulnerable individuals.

 

It was beautiful;

 

 

 

Last week they lost out at the High Court; the eviction order was confirmed.

 

The history of this is that the land above historic Runnymede was once public land, owned on behalf of us by Brunel University. There was a hall of residence and a sports field for the use of the students.

 

We paid for it all out of our taxes.

 

In this brave new world where public bodies act as if they are independent capitalist enterprises Brunel sold off the land to a development company which then demolished the accommodation to build luxury flats.

 

The land should never have been sold, it was ours.

 

The council should never have given planning permission for development in such a sensitive area.

 

The Eco camp was set up on the wooded slopes underneath the development, facing the meadows of Runnymede. Their settlement was sustainable and almost invisible - you wouldn't have known they were there unless you knew they were there.

 

But it was a problem for the developers; how could they sell their flats for outrageous amounts of money if there was an eco village nearby?

 

Today (Wednesday) the bailiffs went in, backed up by the Police and as these 'Get Surrey' photos show, they trashed the place; 

 



 

The homes were smashed up and the families and children lost their possessions and were made homeless;

 

 

It is appalling and brutal and unnecessary; a lot of people who were no trouble to anyone are now on the streets.

 

I am furious; apart from anything else I wanted to get down there to help and I couldn't because of my back.

 

And it poured with rain all day - an inch of rain in 12 hours.

 

As I write this there have been arrests, an injury and a few hardy protesters are still high up in the trees refusing to come down.

 

You can guess where I am in spirit!

 

The world is a worse place for what was done at Runnymede.

 

Neil Harris

(a don't stop till you drop production)

Home: helpmesort outstpeters.blogspot.com

Contact me: neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com

 

 

Last stand at The Runnymede Eco-Village.

Sometimes it seems as though everything I write about is ending - over the Magna Carta celebrations the developers got their eviction notice against the Runnymede Eco-village people at Guildford County Court.

The prospects of fighting this are very slim but at the moment the eviction has stalled because the camp took their case to the High Court on appeal. There's a delay while the judge waits for a transcript of the lower hearing.

These pictures are from last year when I was invited to visit and then did a piece. I had plans - I was going to stay over and combine giving them my support as well has having one last camping 'trip'.

It wasn't to be - my Mum was getting more ill and then I broke my back.

I'm probably idealising it all, I visited in May after all. It was beautiful.

A muddy, cold December?

The people there have been living there for the last three years. there are families and children with nowhere else to go.

There are quite vulnerable people too, everyone was welcome.

Of course, the land should never have been sold - it was ours.

Technically it belonged to Brunel University but once that meant it belonged to all of us.

Since universities were given some kind of spurious independence they have been hunting for assets to sell off; in this case an old hall of residence.

You might think that tomorrow's students would have welcomed cheap and beautiful accommodation?

That was not to be.

The residence and the sports grounds have been torn up and expensive homes built on a plot of land that overlooks historic Runnymede and Ankerwycke and should have been preserved for future generations.

The Eco-village is on the wooded slopes - unusable for development. It's just that the wealthy new owners don't want the eco-warriors living next door.

I'm very angry about it all and angry that with a broken back there's nothing I can do.

I can't even visit because the site is too steep and uneven.

So, my good wishes and solidarity to all of you.

Neil Harris
(a don't stop till you drop production)

Home:  helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com

Contact me:  neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com

The Runnymede Ecovillage; under threat.

Very sad news; the Runnymede Ecovillage which I have written about several times is now under real threat.

You can read one of my Blogs about it at this link;

http://helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/the-runnymede-ecovillage-place-for-last.html

The occupants are now under real threat of eviction - the case is already at the County Court.

Even more seriously, a steel fence has been built around the site, with the potential of starving the residents out or preventing them from getting back in if they need medical treatment.

The Eco Village is a long term settlement created by The Diggers 2012, with the aim of reclaiming unused land for the people.

They live in charming home made shelters overlooking the historic meadow of Runnymede.

They leave a minimal impact on the environment; if you didn't know they were there you would never  spot them.

The residents are a real mixture who range from idealistic political activists to vulnerable homeless people who have found support from living in a caring community.

Up until now no one has worried about them being there; the developers are only concerned with making profits out of the flat land at the top of the hill. The steep woodland cliffs are of little value to them.

The real problem is that on June 15th there will be celebrations for the 800th anniversary of the signing of the Magna Carta. Rumour has it that the queen and president Obama will be there and no one wants The Diggers 2012 in the area.

It's very unfortunate that breaking my spine comes at this time; there's not much I can do to help.

Let's face it, I can't even get there to express my solidarity.

But this Blog can - if you can support them I would urge you to do so.

Neil Harris
(a don't stop till you drop production)

Home: helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com

Contact me;  neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com

America day part two.

So, after going to the Kennedy memorial, we walked along the historic meadows of Runnymede, where the Magna Carta was supposedly signed 800 years ago this year.

Here's Robyn in front of The American Bar Association's memorial to the Magna Carta;

I guess some wealthy American lawyers had a trip here and couldn't believe there wasn't a memorial to the signing and so they built one in 1957.

There are a couple of problems with all this.

First of all; the opposing armies may have camped at Runnymede but the signing wouldn't have taken place there.

This beautiful house is on 'Magna Carta Island' on the opposite bank at Wraysbury.

It would make some sense for the signatories to meet away from the armies on the Island. The house was built later and although a lot of people believe that's where it was signed....you can't be sure.

 

 

 

This is a different view - across the road and behind both it and The River Thames, you are in the historic estate of Ankerwycke. You can just about make out the ruins of the old priory - a religious settlement of nuns from over 1000 years ago.

 

We all think this would be the kind of neutral territory away from both armies and on consecrated ground where no one would dare to kill any one. Also, there would be people who could read and write and could be trusted by parties who may not have been able to check the documents themselves.

 

 

The biggest problem? The Magna Carta was a deal to protect the lives and property of the wealthy barons; no one else had any property and their lives weren't worth living.

 

It took many centuries of protests to win the liberties we take for granted today.

 

At the end of our walk was the entrance of The Runnymede Ecovillage, which is todays protest against poverty and homelessness. I've written about them before and we'll probably make a separate trip there when it's a bit warmer.

 

 

Then we went home and had Hot Dogs with French's Mustard to finish off America day.

 

Hmmmmmmh!

 

Neil Harris

 

(a don't stop till you drop production)

 

Home:  helpmesortoutstp[eters.blogspot.com

 

Contact me: neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com