I hope your feet aren't aching. I marched in spirit and mine are killing me ;)
I looked for you all on the news but then realised I didn't know what most of you look like :O
I hope the crowds there and the thousands of us who registered in spirit are considered and something finally makes people open their eyes.
Thanks for attending :D
Sara

Its funny I can walk for hours in the countryside with the dogs, but today in London, my feet are killing me.
What a good atmosphere it was, and hardly any litter.
Lorna

My feet ache, my legs ache, but my heart is gladdened by the sights I saw in London today.

What a wonderful display of honest english people coming together to state their feelings. What a peaceful and dignified march.

Young and old, kids in pushchairs, elderley and disabled in wheelchairs, rich and poor, all with a common interest OUR COUNTRYSIDE and its traditions.

When we marched past the Cenotaph, the respectful silence was eery.

If this Goverment cannot see how deep are our feelings from this march today, then I for one feel sorry for them.

When we finished the March the numbers were up to 280,000 and I believe were over 400,000 at the end.

Well done England countrysiders I am proud to say I am English.

Jayne

I think John said it was 440,000:) Well done to you all- here's to hoping it has some impact;)

Stacey x x x

When I finished, the count was 335,000, well worth it, a great day, one for the history books.
Dawn.

What an amazing day :-)

I feel like I have HD today though :D

A four hour 'shuffle' to even get to the start and then a three hour march. We went through the counter at 400,120 and there were thousands still coming in behind us. We were told that there were still hundreds of coachs from the NW stuck in Wimbledon, so god knows what time they started the march! Everyone must be congratulated on their behaviour. The police for their good humour :D Apart from the BT policeman who we decided had the 'hump' because he wasn't good enough to get in the MET :P

Best banner I saw yesterday:

" Keep the cowsh*t in the country, and the bullsh*t in westminster ".

Now let's see just how arrogant Mr.Blair really is.

Yes - we went to bed at 8 pm and couldn't watch more than 10 mins on 'Midsummer Murders' (what's new?)
Absolutely shattered, especially after 4 heavy days' picking up this week.

So well worth it, or so I thought until I heard Alun Michael's comment on the news 'Can't think what they're bothering to march for' or words to that effect.

Wonderful atmosphere, as the TV commentator said - a very Anglo-Saxon march, which actually involved folk supporting us from France (wonderful melodious hunting horn) America, Zimbabwe ('Blair's put more white farmers out of business than Mugabe') and many other countries.

We carried the Flatcoated Retriever Society banner, and were tickled by the number of people who came up and said how pleased they were that we were there.

Anothere quote (a little non-politically correct, but clever)
'If hounds were coloured and huntsmen gay
We shouldn't be marching in London today'

With apologies to anyone offended

Jo and the Casblaidd Flatcoats

Jo, I didn't see your Flatcoat banner but I did see banners for:

Working Clumber Association (?)

Italian Spinone Club of GB.

Kent,Surrey & Sussex Lab Club.

Deerhound Association (?)

Good on yer!! :-)

Hi Jo
We marched in spirit and we also heard Alun Michael's comments!
Talk about inflamatory.
How dare he be so arrogant as to say "I don't know why they were marching, but it certainly hasn't changed my mind"
Nicky

Another in similar vein
'You leave me to shovel it up
I'll leave Blair to talk it'

Jo and the Casblaidd Flatcoats

We got home at 2am after a 4am start! Then it was back up for work. I'm knackered.

We had a fantastic day and I thought everyone behaved impecably (sp? too tired to even thing about it!). I saw the KC were there and Pro-Dog. I also spotted William Hague and his wif although I was hoping to get a glimpse of Vinnie Jones! Rob's seen him on a shoot - must get myself on the beating team when he goes <g>

We got through the counter at about 330,000

Helen

We've used to pick up on Vinnie's Dad's shoot - a very interesting combination of drives. Unfortunately for us round the M25, which sometimes meant a 3 hour drive back in the rush hour if the shoot was mid-week. Actually, Vinnie not often there. He's a pussy cat really - not as hard as he'd like people to think!!!!

Jo and the Casblaidd Flatcoats

Have just read an excellent essay by Max Hastings in Saturday's Daily Mail - well recommended to anyone who might have been in two minds about the reasoning behind the March. He puts it far better than I ever could.

Jo and the Casblaidd Flatcoats

Is the essay on a web page?

Helen

Not sure - a friend passed it on to me as the centre spread in the paper.

Jo and the Casblaidd Flatcoats

lets hope that all three Tony's read it then!

Wasn't it just wonderful, no trouble whatsoever, and a distinct lack of litter too which I found amazing. I got there early and the count was on 3500 when we went through. But the atmosphere was just unbelievable, all the cheering from the buildings lining the streets too.
Followed the Chesepeake Bay Retriever Club banner most of the way, the best one I saw was 'Tony Blair & Taxidermists. They Should Get Together' that bought a cheer from the crowd as they walked pat to the start. We were also trying to decide how many people it would take to cut the rope on that RSPCA blimp in Trafalger Square.
We were very tempted to go back and do the whole thing again, glad I didn't cos I ache like hell today. Ingrid

Thanks everyone who got up there and marched :) I was with you in spirit, even though I'm probably considered a townie, I totally agree that the country side should be run by the people who know what they're doing, which certainly ain't anyone in Govt.
My favourite banner... FOX OFF MR BLAIR! :D

Official count: 407,791 people took part in the march yesterday. History was made :-)

...Plus, I imagine,the numbers for those who Marched in Spirit - any idea how many that was?

Jo and the Casblaidd Flatcoats

Same here Julie- I'm a Townie wanting to move to the countryside (Derbyshire) if there's one left when we're ready:( The fav banner has to be the one Leigh mentioned further up the thread:D :D :D :D

Stacey x x x

There will be a countryside there for you Stacey, but it will be totally sterilized and take on the form of a giant theme park! No living creatures, no church bells, no country 'smells', no oil seed rape, just hamburger bars and concrete cows. Sounds a bit like Milton Keynes :D

Sorry anyone who lives in Milton Keynes but you do have concrete cows :P

Sorry to upset anyone but I live right in the countryside in the middle of nowhere and it would save me a fortune on antihistamine if the dreaded oil seed rape was non existant !!! All the other things, I will allow to remain LOL

Beth

Well Beth you don't want to live in my house then the field right behind our house had oil seed rape in it this year :D

Tracy :)

Well done everybody who went on the March. I wish we could have gone as it is such an important issue that Mr Balir should sit up and listen. Did I hear right that he was on a weekned break in the country ??!!

Lucy

Hope your feet are feeling better today!!! I wish I could have gone but can't walk all that way with my naff knees without sitting down! I too watched you all on the news though I would not have marched to keep fox hunting as its not about that for me, just keep the countryside to it's self and us dog owners just leave us alone? Well done you all! :)

Julieann

hi everyone,

where has the original marching board gone, it was getting a bit lively, has it been deleted or am I just blind and can't find it??

HELP:D

Sarah

The thread has been moved temporarily to an Admin area.
It needs to be branched as it got to big.

Thanks Leigh,

There are several topics at the moment which I am finding very 'interesting'

I shall keep an eye out for it.

Sarah