Just a reminder for this Sunday!
Who is going ?
As you will have read in the first edition of Longdog Liberation, this event
is due to take place on Tooting Bec Common, south-west London at 12 noon on
Sunday, August 27th.
The meeting place for the event will be at the Common's Rastell Avenue
entrance, which is situated at London SW2 4XP.
For those travelling by public transport, the nearest tube/rail is Balham.
Map at
tinyurl.com/lplfr shows Balham station and Rastell Avenue
(circled towards the right). Streatham Hill rail station is also close.
After meeting at the Rastell Road entrance, we will make our way a little
further into the park to hold the Gathering at or near the location marked
with an arrow on the map at
tinyurl.com/mo3j9For anyone who gets lost/delayed, the contact phone number on the day will
be 07703 558724.
Important note:-
A small number of people have expressed concern as to the nature of the
event.
As stated in the previous issue of Longdog Liberation, "We intend this to be
a gentle, enjoyable event, for human and canine participants alike, but with
an important message for the government, the public and the greyhound racing
industry".
This is not, repeat not, a demonstration outside Lord Lipsey's home. It is a
peaceful gathering in a public park, where he will be able to see us, at
some distance, from his upstairs window, if he should care to look.
There will be no mass protest outside Lipsey's house. A small delegation
will deliver to him a polite letter from Greyhound Action. We also hope that
participants at the Gathering will bring wreaths and flowers in memory of
the slaughtered greyhounds and that the police will allow people to go in
turn, individually or in small numbers, to lay these outside his garden
fence.
After the serious side of the event is over, both human and canine
participants will be able to socialise and enjoy themselves in the park.
We're happy to say there has already been a great deal of interest in this
vitally important event, with people even coming from the USA and other
countries to attend. Please do your best to be there yourself, with rescued
greyhounds and anti dog racing banners and placards, if possible. And do let
us know if you intend to be there (send your message to
savethegreyhounds@greyhoundaction.org.uk), so we can get some idea of
numbers.
Do also let us know if you would like to speak. We already have several
speakers, but we would like representatives of all groups and organisations
that are attending to make short speeches and, in fact, anyone who wants to
say a few words will be welcome to do so, whether they want to speak in
general terms or in a very personal way, about their own experiences with
dogs that have suffered at the hands of the racing industry.
We envisage something somewhat similar to our Remembering Rusty ceremony in
South Wales last year, which turned out to be a very moving and uplifting
event.
In relation to speeches, because we are expecting our largest ever
attendance at a Greyhound Action event and some speakers may be
softly-spoken, it may be difficult for everybody to hear, unless we have
some sort of a microphone/loudspeaker set-up. This would obviously need to
be very portable and to work off a generator or battery, as no mains
electricity will be available. If anyone has this sort of sound equipment
and would be willing to bring it along, please let us know. As a last
resort, we could, of course, hire it, but would prefer to save the money for
other aspects of our campaign to protect greyhounds.
As we've said previously, we're encouraging participants, if possible, to
bring along rescued greyhounds (other types of dog are very welcome too) and
anti greyhound racing banners and placards. In relation to these, it really
is the more, the merrier, so if you don't have any already, why not have a
go at making some? Ideas for slogans are Say No to Greyhound Racing, You
Bet....They Die, Kill Greyhound Racing...Not Greyhounds, Running for their
Lives, Dying to Entertain You, Boycott Greyhound Racing, and we're quite
sure there are many others that you could think up.
Posters and flyers advertising the Gathering will be available shortly.
Please contact us, if you would like some. We would prefer to e-mail these
to you in pdf format for you to print out yourselves, but can also put some
in the post to you, if you are unable to print them.