March for Greyhounds
Reference
posted by Chris at 18:18
Yesterday was the March for Greyhounds in London, and what a fantastic day.
If you read BeastBlog regularly you'll no doubt be aware of issues surrounding greyhounds in the racing industry - assuming they get there in the fisrt place; yesterday was an opportunity to raise the awareness of many more people.
The organisers had asked if Gill and me would be stewards. This meant being there early; like when no-one else was there. Then Sam (one of the organisers) turned up, soon to be followed by Mark (chief steward), and other stewardy type people. So there we all were in our (extremely stylish - not) high viz jackets, when the Police arrived. This is as in three tranny vans full of coppers, about a dozen motorcycle police, and a couple of support vans whose purpose became clear a bit later. So now we had stewards and police escort in abundance, but no marchers!!!! At this point Sam was looking into the abyss preparing to jump.
Just the Stewards
Then like autumn leaves people drifted in, and before we knew it there was a couple of hundred people milling around waiting for the march to start.
BossBoss and his beast Boo were there. Boo decided he wasn't too keen on the motorcylce police, and told them in no uncertain terms what he thought - only for the top man of the police that were to march with us to say "It's OK, we don't like the traffic police either." That set the tone for the day with the police.
Waiting for the start
And at this point I want to say that the police were brilliant. Before, during and after the march when we were at Hyde Park they were extremely approachable, and everything was done with a smile. And I think the message got to some of them too. My thanks go to all of them - especially the Arsenal fan who missed the Arsenal v. Newcastle game (1-1 - not the best result for Arsenal then, unlike the England v. South Africa game - result! - but I digress).
Back to the march itself. It was amazing how far people had come; there were people from Scotland, Isle of Man, France and all points in between. And despite the fact that the organisers had discouraged dogs on the day, we did have a couple turn up, only for the police to suggest they walk at the front of the march so they could be seen; fantastic.
Beasts at the Front
We left Whitehall Place at 12:30 sharp, in to Whitehall and up to Trafalgar Square, and it was at this point it really hit me what we were doing; bringing central London to a standstill in full view of the public to put across the idea that dogs should not die and be abused for the sake of sport.
Being at the front I was able to look back along the march, and it was impressive to see so many people. It was a wierd feeling; very proud to be part of it, and if truth be told, a lump in the throat.
On the March
The route took us up Whitehall to Trafalgar Square, along Pall Mall then up St. James's Street to Picadilly, Park Lane then Hyde Park - 2½ miles. Quick word here about the support vans: To minimise the disruption to traffic he van at the front puts out cones and runs tape between them; that is the boundary between the march and the traffic. The van at the back gathers it all in behind the march. Dead simple, dead effective.
Pall Mall and St. James's Street were a bit quite, but everywhere else along the route there were loads of people. And with virtually no exceptions - I only heard of two - either people were amazed at the truth of what happens to many greyhounds, or open in their support of what we were doing. The number of cars that passed hooting and giving thumbs up was amazing, and around 2,000 leaflets were given out.
What made the march so good in my opinion was the attitude of the people taking part. I'm sure some would have the world believe that it was a bunch a militant activists ramming a message down peoples throats. Nothing could be further from the truth. It was simply ordinary people who think it's wrong that so many dogs are abused and die because of the racing industry.
As we arrived at Hyde Park and the end of the march the police, those on foot with us and the motorcyclists were assembled, and as the march went past them I heard numerous people thanking them. Now, who knows, but my guess is that they appreciate people who appreciate what they do.
Annette Crosby
At Hyde Park there were some speeches, and thanks need to go here to the people that sorted out the park and the PA. The speakers started with Annette Crosby (Mrs. Meldrew). she was followed by (not neccessarily in this order) Amanda from Scotland, Finlay, Catherine from Lévriers en Detresse, John from Greyhound Muses who reducd quite a few to tears with his poem about Rusty, John from CAGE (Bridgit's dad - and we found out that she had died), and Tony from GA in a surprisingly mellow mode.
Finleigh
Members of the public came over to see what was going on, and once again there was a general disgust at the way the racing industry treats it's animals once they can no longer race.
Catherine
So to conclude, I am sure that the day will have had an impact on peoples awareness of what happens. Perhaps they will now think twice about going racing, aware that the dog that came last has just lost a much bigger race - the race for life.
And finally, although it's been said by many elsewhere, thanks to the organisers, thanks to the police, and thanks to everyone that turned up.
If you read BeastBlog regularly you'll no doubt be aware of issues surrounding greyhounds in the racing industry - assuming they get there in the fisrt place; yesterday was an opportunity to raise the awareness of many more people.
The organisers had asked if Gill and me would be stewards. This meant being there early; like when no-one else was there. Then Sam (one of the organisers) turned up, soon to be followed by Mark (chief steward), and other stewardy type people. So there we all were in our (extremely stylish - not) high viz jackets, when the Police arrived. This is as in three tranny vans full of coppers, about a dozen motorcycle police, and a couple of support vans whose purpose became clear a bit later. So now we had stewards and police escort in abundance, but no marchers!!!! At this point Sam was looking into the abyss preparing to jump.
Just the Stewards
Then like autumn leaves people drifted in, and before we knew it there was a couple of hundred people milling around waiting for the march to start.
BossBoss and his beast Boo were there. Boo decided he wasn't too keen on the motorcylce police, and told them in no uncertain terms what he thought - only for the top man of the police that were to march with us to say "It's OK, we don't like the traffic police either." That set the tone for the day with the police.
Waiting for the start
And at this point I want to say that the police were brilliant. Before, during and after the march when we were at Hyde Park they were extremely approachable, and everything was done with a smile. And I think the message got to some of them too. My thanks go to all of them - especially the Arsenal fan who missed the Arsenal v. Newcastle game (1-1 - not the best result for Arsenal then, unlike the England v. South Africa game - result! - but I digress).
Back to the march itself. It was amazing how far people had come; there were people from Scotland, Isle of Man, France and all points in between. And despite the fact that the organisers had discouraged dogs on the day, we did have a couple turn up, only for the police to suggest they walk at the front of the march so they could be seen; fantastic.
Beasts at the Front
We left Whitehall Place at 12:30 sharp, in to Whitehall and up to Trafalgar Square, and it was at this point it really hit me what we were doing; bringing central London to a standstill in full view of the public to put across the idea that dogs should not die and be abused for the sake of sport.
Being at the front I was able to look back along the march, and it was impressive to see so many people. It was a wierd feeling; very proud to be part of it, and if truth be told, a lump in the throat.
On the March
The route took us up Whitehall to Trafalgar Square, along Pall Mall then up St. James's Street to Picadilly, Park Lane then Hyde Park - 2½ miles. Quick word here about the support vans: To minimise the disruption to traffic he van at the front puts out cones and runs tape between them; that is the boundary between the march and the traffic. The van at the back gathers it all in behind the march. Dead simple, dead effective.
Pall Mall and St. James's Street were a bit quite, but everywhere else along the route there were loads of people. And with virtually no exceptions - I only heard of two - either people were amazed at the truth of what happens to many greyhounds, or open in their support of what we were doing. The number of cars that passed hooting and giving thumbs up was amazing, and around 2,000 leaflets were given out.
What made the march so good in my opinion was the attitude of the people taking part. I'm sure some would have the world believe that it was a bunch a militant activists ramming a message down peoples throats. Nothing could be further from the truth. It was simply ordinary people who think it's wrong that so many dogs are abused and die because of the racing industry.
As we arrived at Hyde Park and the end of the march the police, those on foot with us and the motorcyclists were assembled, and as the march went past them I heard numerous people thanking them. Now, who knows, but my guess is that they appreciate people who appreciate what they do.
Annette Crosby
At Hyde Park there were some speeches, and thanks need to go here to the people that sorted out the park and the PA. The speakers started with Annette Crosby (Mrs. Meldrew). she was followed by (not neccessarily in this order) Amanda from Scotland, Finlay, Catherine from Lévriers en Detresse, John from Greyhound Muses who reducd quite a few to tears with his poem about Rusty, John from CAGE (Bridgit's dad - and we found out that she had died), and Tony from GA in a surprisingly mellow mode.
Finleigh
Members of the public came over to see what was going on, and once again there was a general disgust at the way the racing industry treats it's animals once they can no longer race.
Catherine
So to conclude, I am sure that the day will have had an impact on peoples awareness of what happens. Perhaps they will now think twice about going racing, aware that the dog that came last has just lost a much bigger race - the race for life.
And finally, although it's been said by many elsewhere, thanks to the organisers, thanks to the police, and thanks to everyone that turned up.
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9 Comments:
Well done on being a part of this. Sorry I couldn't make it, but I was thinking of you all!
Similar sentiments - Well done. Should I wish to 'encourage' my MP (not a bad bloke) is there a standard list of points to consider document to point him to??
That was beautifully written and echoes what most people who attended thought.
As you know I was there at Hyde Park with Hugo, wish I had done the whole march now rather than just the end part, just seeing the marchers coming was extremely moving.
Maybe next time Troy could sneak along? think how he would feel with two hundred people to lean on.
Great blog, as ever.
Love from Sue B and Hugo xx
PS Am very sad to hear bridgit is no more, met her at the gathering in Tooting this summer and thought she was a real character.
Hi Jasper,
There is our page that attempts to esitmate the numbers of dogs that go missing here .
There are lots of other places that highlight the issues. Here's just two:
Greyhound Muses - click Racing Facts on the left hand menu (and if you're like me you'll want to stop the music). This was written in 2001, but is still relevant.
Greyhound Action's Fact Sheets. - There's a few fact sheets here. Number 2 also attempts to estimate the number of dogs that go missing each year.
Hope this helps.
Sue,
Thanks for the kind comments. Assuming there is an event next year (depends on the state of Sam's sanity after this one I should think) we might well take the Beasts, and I'm sure Troy would think it was heaven having so many people to lean on.
Hi Chris - I was on the march as a fellow Gapper, so sorry not to have met up with you! Thank you for stewarding, and tell the beastly Bs they are lovely.
cheers
Fran
It was great to meet you guys (if not the Beasties themselves) on Saturday. Let's just hope the momentum can keep going now.
My blog about Saturday is here: http://aojthelurchers.blogspot.com/2006/11/marching-for-greyhounds.html
Congrats to everyone concerned. Previously owned an old retired greyhound and now have a Spanish galgo and wanted to march and show my support. I turned up on my own to march and found everyone very friendly and welcoming. Even ended up carrying one end of a banner with someone I'd never met before! It felt slightly surreal to be striding across Trafalgar Square with the traffic haulted for us and people several deep on the pavement watching. A great day and as others have said, here's hoping this could be an annual event. Of course the added bonus is that I've discovered the Beasties and now have another website to satisfy my greyhound addiction! Regards to all from Suzie and Trisi Galgo
Hi Gill and Chris,
Good on you for going, we were just getting back from Germany after a 16 hour coach ride (remind me not to do that again!). Glad so many turned up!
Love to the Beasts,
C & T x
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