About 35 walkers succesfully completed all or part of the trek from Nottingham to the Immigration Reporting Centre, South Street, Loughborough. The whole walk was completed
in just under 7 hours. This included several breaks for refreshment along
the way. The Lord Mayor of Nottingham, Councillor Des Wilson, kindly came out in the early morning rain to see us off. He said:
"...It's no small thing to leave your country, your home, relations, friends - everything you know and flee to a country where everything is strange and you have to live in poverty. The conditions that force people to do that must be truly terrible. We should bear this in mind whenever we think about asylum seekers and give them the help and support they so desperately need."
We set off at 9.35 am, at a brisk pace down Exchange Walk. Our placards were collected by Anne at the station. Then the bleak, trackless wastes of Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire stretched before us and for the first time, we felt truly alone... Actually, this is complete rubbish because our support drivers were never far away and did a fantastic job throughout the day. The expected rain held off reasonably well - there were even sunny moments - and we began to notice that we were getting ahead of schedule.
The route led us down through the Meadows, across the Trent by Wilford Bridge - where driver Mandy performed the first rescue of the day - and into Ruddington. Then left by the Bricklayer's Arms and straight on till we hit the A60. Turning right, this takes us all the way to Loughborough.
Around 11.45 am, we reach Bunny village. We arrive at the church early, but there are coffee and cakes for us and Veggies are setting up in the church hall. Sadly, we can't sit here all day admiring the architecture, and it begins to rain more heavily as we set out again. A longish haul up Bunny Hill and at the top, driver Dave brings Sue from Leicester to join the rearguard. The rain eases but the verges are wet and muddy underfoot. Then Richard arrives in his van to find out how we are and dispense dates, nutri-grain bars and other goodies.
The walk got quite strung out as everyone walks at a different pace, so we all meet up in the Packe Arms, Hoton. After swift drinks, we emerge and continue the long descent into Loughborough, delayed only when Veggies lured us into a lay-by with more food. Then across the Soar, past the old Brush works and into town. We handed out some leaflets (click here for a copy) to let the startled inhabitants know why we were assembling outside an obscure building in their town. Anne was already there with the placards and some chairs for the exhausted to flop into.
After the usual photos, we repaired to Emmanuel Church Hall, to rest and sort out the journey back. Here, more tea, cakes and biscuits were waiting.
The outstanding performance of two boys who did the walk, the brothers Sam and Dan, needs mentioning.
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Dan made it all the way to Hoton while Sam was determined to be first to reach the IRC building in South Street (see also photos below).
If I have given the impression that this was the best fed demonstration I have ever been on in my life, then that's exactly right. It was.
However, what was an enjoyable day for us is a terrible problem for asylum seekers, who have to figure out how to get to Loughborough and back each time they have to "sign-on" (usually every month). They don't have any of the extensive support we organized for ourselves - they have little or no resources. This journey has been forced on them by callous Home Office bureaucrats, who have dreamed up yet another way to torment asylum seekers. If the HO is at all embarrassed by the publicity this action has generated, that's fine.
Press coverage was very good thanks to Anna. Anna's BBC interview appeared on East Midlands Today; on Monday, Chris was interviewed by Radio Trent, there have been reports on other radio stations and even the Good Old Evening Post had a tolerably clear report of what the walk was about in the edition of Monday, January 8th, page 11.
