HOMECOMING SET FOR WOMAN WALKING HS2 ROUTE AS WEEKEND OF PUBLIC EVENTS PLANNED ALONG PROPOSED LINE
Lizzy Williams, the Stop HS2 campaigner who is walking the entire route of HS2 will receive a ‘homecoming’ as she walks through South Northamptonshire, the area which she represents. Day 10 will also represent the halfway point of her marathon walk, as she makes it to Map 16 after stating on map 30 just north of Lichfield on September 1st. She will be joined today by campaigners as she walks, and will have a homecoming celebration as she reaches The Inn at Greatworth at 6.30 [OX17 2DT], before moving on to the serious business of chairing a meeting of SNAG, the South Northamptonshire Action Group.
Williams said;
“I’ve been amazed and really appreciate the way people have got behind what I’ve been doing. The point of doing this has been to raise public awareness and it’s definitely working. Ever since I got to Kenilworth last weekend, almost everyone I have met into has known who I am and what I am doing. Though having said that, some have asked me where HS2 would go, and of course I’ve had to politely say ‘Well here of course, that’s why you’ve bumped into me!’”
“I can’t believe the support I’ve been getting. One farmer in Warwickshire even rang me up from a foreign holiday to tell me to mind a ditch! The whole thing has been a really positive experience and it’s been great to see all these new places, but it’s good to be home, and I think I’ll take a rest day on Monday.”
Following a well attended public walk to Burton Green last weekend, Williams will skip ahead to Buckinghamshire on Saturday for the day to walk from Amersham [HP6 5AZ 10am] to Great Missenden, as part of a national weekend of public walks. She will start back at Greatworth on Sunday 12th, before meeting walkers at Turweston at 11am to cross into Oxfordshire, with the walk culminating at Chetwode.
In another event on the 11th, farmers in Warwickshire will construct a mock-up of HS2 using farm machinery [CV33 9BG, 11am]. Joe Rukin, Stop HS2 Acting Convenor, who will attend the Warwickshire walk between Southam & Offchurch said;
“Lizzy has been an inspiration to us all. Her walk and the public walks she has suggested have helped increase public awareness throughout the country, and for the sake of the entire country, people have to become aware what HS2 represents. We are up against a Government are willing to make up any sort of rubbish to justify this idiotic unjustifiable plan, simple because it sounds like a good idea. They want to extol sugar-coated benefits with unsubstantiated nice words. The evidence is there from HS1 that it will be an unmitigated disaster which will do nothing but look at bit shiny and increase national debt. Throughout the country, people are up in arms about the cuts we have seen and the cuts still yet to come. When the cost of the Heathrow & HS1 links are added in, HS2 will cost about 5% of that generational national debt we have to bear. That’s about 1500 new schools, or in other words at least fifty billion pounds of cuts that don’t have to happen.”
NOTES FOR EDITORS
- STOP HS2 is the national group campaigning on behalf of anti-HS2 action groups up and down the proposed route. See http://www.stophs2.org. The key message of Stop HS2 is “No business case, no environmental case, no money to pay for it”
- For more details contact or Joe Rukin on 07811 371880 Lizzy Williams on 07842 164880 or Penny Gaines on 01296 655613
- On Wednesday 8th September, the Department for Transport and HS2 Ltd released some proposed details of route realignment on their website:
http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/rail/pi/highspeedrail/hs2ltd/recommended-route/ - STOP HS2 campaigner, Lizzy Williams is walking the entire length of the proposed route during September. Lizzys itinerary (subject to change) and her progress along the route of HS2 and public events can be found at http://www.walkhs2.co.uk
- On Saturday 11th, a walk will be held from Offchurch to Ufton Woods in Warwickshire from 9am to 6pm. The press are invited to Welsh Road Farm [CV33 9BG] at 11am where farm machinery will be set up to show the height and width of HS2. For more details contact Mike Geddes on 07827 274626 or Joe Rukin 07811 371880. http://www.offchurch.org.uk/high-speed-2.
- Also on Saturday 11th, two walks will be held in the Chilterns, starting at Amersham station (HP6 5AZ) at 10am. Both will follow the route of HS2, with the long walk following the Misbourne Valley to Great Missenden and the short walk going to where a tunnel entrance will be. For more details contact Carol Rainsford on 07736 106101 or Lizzy Williams on 07842 164880. http://www.chilternsociety.org.uk/hs2/sept2010-sponsored-walk.php
- On Friday 10th, Lizzy Williams will have a ‘homecoming’ reaching The Inn in Greatworth (OX17 2DT) at 6.30 where there will be a meeting of the South Northamptonshire Action Group, which she chairs at 7.30. This will mark the halfway point in her walk. For more details contact Lizzy Williams on 07842 164880.