Climate Rush Green Fayre in Aylesbury: I’d met with Climate Rush at the start of their tour of South West England at Sipson, near Heathrow and had photographed both their procession to Heathrow and the Celebration of Community Resistance they held there on the Sipson Airplot. On Wednesday 9th September 2009 I went to Aylesbury, the furthest north of their horse-drawn tour, where they were holding a Green Fayre in the centre of the town.
Although it was September, the day was one of the best afternoons of the summer and there were people sitting outside cafés around the square and walking to the shops in this pedestrianised area.
Along with the Climate Rush the Green Euro-MP Caroline Lucas had come to speak at the event, along with celebrity cookery writer and TV performer Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall. I’d photographed Caroline at quite a few events, but this was the first time I’d met Hugh, and have to admit I’ve never watched him on screen, having no interest in cookery programmes.
At the start of the event Tamsin Omond and some of the other Rushers made a tour of the nearby shopping streets with their ‘EQUITY’ banner to try to drum up trade. An actual drum would have helped, or event a megaphone, but Tamsin had a surprisingly loud voice, announcing the opportunity to meet both the TV Cook and one of their Euro MPs.
They went through the busy market square – Aylesbury was a market town in Saxon times – and back to Kingsbury, a triangular open space to the north of the Market Square surrounded by shops and pubs where the Green Fayre was being held. It was I think only my second visit to the town which now has a population of around 65,000.
During the afternoon quite a few people did stop to talk with Hugh and tell him how much they enjoyed his programme. Others just edged towards him, stopping a few yards away phone in hand to take a photo.
There were a few short speeches and people talked with the Rushers and some wrote notes about climate change and other environmental issues, posting these in a box to be sent to the local MP. A few children came to draw pictures.
Aylesbury Museum had come to join in the event with a stall, and brought apples and rare Aylesbury plums to give away – and these were delicious. Other gardeners also brought fruit and vegetables from their gardens and we all enjoyed eating some of these.
A water feature in the centre of the square came in useful for the screen-printing demonstration, printing a Climate Rush image onto t-shirts and washing the screen afterwards.
And on a hot afternoon a pint of real ale from one of the pubs was very welcome. It was a long, hot afternoon and I was sorry to have to leave.
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