Ombudsman's response to Red, White & Blue opposer

BNP Councillor, Mr Cliff Roper

Scouring the internet tonight took me to Councillor Cliff Roper's blog.

Mr Roper was elected as a British National Party councillor for the Heanor East ward of Amber Valley Borough Council in May 2008.

What caught my eye on Mr Roper's blog was his article on a BNP opposers correspondence with the Local Government Ombudsman.

Apparently the BNP opposer gave a whole list of reasons for not wanting the BNP's Red, White and Blue festival to go ahead.

It makes very interesting reading and you can view the ombudsman's response and rebuttal here

Campaign launched to keep BNP festival away from Denby

A CAMPAIGN to stop the BNP holding its annual festival in Amber Valley has been started by a local anti-fascist organisation.

Amber Valley Campaign Against Racism and Fascism has plans to fight the right-wing party with a 'No BNP here, thank you' campaign, which it is hoping will be taken up by other people in the borough and around the county.

The group plans on setting up a huge petition, signed by thousands of people, which it hopes will keep the event out of the area.

The group said it set up the campaign in response to the £500,000 which was spent on policing this year's Red, White and Blue festival, and the protest march of more than 1,000 people which took place in Codnor on the same weekend in August.

John Kimberley, spokesman for the group, said: "We felt most local people did not want the BNP holding its international fascist festival in our community.

"Talking with local people over the past few months it is clear they hate the bad name the BNP gives our area.

"Plus, police money could be better spent on community relations, fighting crime and supporting victims.

"We believe the best solution is that the BNP do not hold its festival here again."

A spokesman for the BNP said the party had discussed moving the three-day event elsewhere in the country following this year's festival, but no decisions had yet been made on the location for next year, which will be the party's 11th rally.

The petition against the Amber Valley rally, which has been held on land off Codnor-Denby Lane for three years, will be set up online within months.

Ripley & Heanor News

Mr Clarke sums it up nicely in the comments section when he says:

A few things people may wish to consider. At the first festival with only one solitary protester, all the usual suspects raised bogus fears about the event. But there were no traffic problems, no major complaints about noise and certainly no trouble.

Enter the protesters and problems occur. Now, those same people have to talk as though the festival and protest are one event so as to try and equate trouble with the BNP and thus perpetuate the myths that surround the party.

The festival and protest are TWO SEPARATE events. Let the protesters stomp around Codnor Rec if they want to march but keep them from blocking roads.

As for Kimberley and chum. Setting up an online petition? Why not just get off your backside and ask LOCAL people to sign on a piece of paper? An online petition will get people from all over the country to sign, maybe even some silly student types from Exeter Uni!

Finally, two quick points. Does the fact that from the whole of Denby, Codnor, Waingroves and Loscoe only nineteen people (of which, four were BNP supporters) bothered to turn up to the recent public meeting arranged by the police, give some indication as to the 'outrage' felt by local residents?

Kimberley should perhaps take a look at the local ambervalleymatters blog to see that the BNP is now the third biggest political party in Amber Valley, and closing fast on the Tories and Labour.

Police hope BNP festival moves away from Denby village

DERBYSHIRE police say they hope the British National Party will confirm an alternative venue for its annual Red, White and Blue festival.

Speaking after a meeting last night, Superintendent Howard Veigas said the event, held for the past three years in Denby, led to "the same community suffering year after year" from the upheaval it brings to local residents.

Supt Veigas said: "The police do not feel it is a suitable location for the festival.

"We have great concerns that it is such an imposition and a huge disruption to the local community.

"But if it has to come back we will have to take on the organisation."

His comments came after BNP councillor Lewis Allsebrook told the meeting at Denby Church of England School, in Church Street, that the party was looking at "two or three alternative locations" for the event.

Mr Allsebrook, who represents Heanor West on Amber Valley Borough Council, reiterated that the party may move its festival away from Derbyshire.

He said: "The BNP is looking at alternative sites. The decision would be made at a central level.

"We came here to listen to what everyone has had to say and we are going to take on board their views."

Around 20 villagers turned up at last night's meeting.

Almost all praised the police for the way they handled this year's event, which saw 18 people arrested – four supporters of the BNP and 14 protesters. One man, who did not wish to be named, said: "It was a fantastic job by the police. I felt very secure knowing they were there."

Another resident told the meeting: "I think the police response was absolutely excellent in the way they handled the different interest groups."

Villagers at the meeting, which was organised by the police to seek residents' views on the way the force handled the event, were shown video footage taken from a police helicopter.

It showed demonstrators, marshalled by officers and police on horseback, as they marched down Heanor Road to a designated protest point on Codnor-Denby Lane.

Police formed a cordon but were pushed back twice as the protesters shoved their way through.

Chief Superintendent Garry Sherwood, Commander for the Constabulary's A Division, which covers Amber Valley, told the meeting: "It reminded me of when I started policing more than 20 years ago – a thin blue line with arms linked."

See This is Derbyshire for comments

THE RED, WHITE & BLUE BNP FESTIVAL, PART 4 - SATURDAY NIGHT

Late on Saturday afternoon another friend of mine managed to get on to the RWB site after hours of trying to get in. I had the chance to disappear and do my own thing as one of my chatroll friends, Bear, took over for half an hour. I was enjoying myself so much checking the stalls and buying things to send to my American friend that I collared Councillor Cliff Roper and his wife into taking over from Bear. This gave me more time to check out everything that was on site.

My American friend Lisa has the same views as us so I bought one of the signed limited edition cards of Nick Griffin specially made for the Red, White & Blue. Last year I sent her a RWB t-shirt which now hangs in a frame in her hallway alongside framed pictures of The Beatles and Paul McCartney. I also got her some BNP rock, or candy, as she calls it and some picturesque cards of Derbyshire. She loves that sort of thing. Lisa, when you read this I want you to know that I can’t wait until you come over next June. (Don’t tell anyone but she’s bought her ticket already and I know she’ll be bringing me some Reeces Peanut Buttercups, yummy!)

Anyway, back to my story. I don’t know where they came from, but by the time I got back a couple of young girls were running our stall. I was only too glad to let them. Firstly because it was hot and I was tired, but more importantly it gave them something to do. It gave them responsibility and they thoroughly enjoyed being ‘grown up’. They spent the rest of Saturday and part of Sunday running the stall and taking cakes and slices of melon to quench peoples thirst, round the crowd. They did a brilliant job and earned plenty of cash to chuck into the Amber Valley BNP kitty.

Later on, my friend Paul and I had a walk around, grabbed some food and went into the political marquee to watch the comedian, Mad Frankie Waller. The evening’s fireworks had been cancelled because of the wind but Frankie was so funny. Contrary to what the BNP opposers think, Frankie wasn’t telling racist jokes. He was actually telling jokes that centre around our own people; Richard Barnbrook being one recipient. Everyone left the show on a high and went off to do their own thing.

I was dead on my feet by this time so said I was going to go back to my tent and have an early night. Paul, who had only popped on site for the day decided to stay over and we went back to my tent. We had a chat about the day’s events and tried to get some sleep. Sleep was never going to happen. I was just starting to nod off when I heard the loudest snore, followed by another and another. Who the hell was it? Arran was in the next tent and he was one of the offenders but there were two more. As one snore ended another one started. It was one long and constant snore. Oh no. There are two things that annoy me. One is smelly feet and the other is… you guessed it, snoring!

No matter how hard I tried I just could not get to sleep so in the end I got back out of my sleeping bag and reached for a biscuit. Chocolate is always a comforter but it wasn’t working and there’s only so much chocolate you can eat before throwing up. At one point I was going to get out of the tent and kick Arran through his tent. That’d stop him but it wouldn’t stop the other snorers. I couldn’t go round kicking the other snorers. Or could I? I could always ‘kick and run’ and hope they didn’t spot me. No, I decided it wouldn’t be a good idea. Knowing my luck I’d fall over the guy ropes. They’d be sure to spot me then along with the people whose tent I’d just managed to rip down in the process.

So, me and Paul decided we would just have to wait and hope they’d shut up. We sat chatting to drown out the noise and laughing about things that had happened that day when something ‘pranged. Someone had tripped over one of the guy ropes. I heard a voice asking if he could come. It was DazG, another friend from our British national party chatroll room. He’d been next door in Lippy’s tent but she had fallen asleep and now he was bored. All the excitement, lack of sleep and a few cans of Stella is sure to get to you. I said of course he could come in. The cheeky bugger asked me if I was dressed and I told him in a stern voice ‘Of course I am.’

I would like to say that DazG entered my tent gracefully but he didn’t. It took him 5 minutes to open the door – with my help – and then he sort of nose dived, fag in one hand, can in the other, into the tent and nearly crashed through and out the other end. Now, I don’t mind people drinking, I love a few myself, but when you are sober and someone is pissed they may as well be from another planet.

We spent the next hour talking about… Well, to be honest I have no idea. It was sort of garbled jibberish with me repeating ‘Ya what?’ every two minutes. The next thing I know is DazG’s can of Stella was on the floor of the tent. He was swinging his arm around, gesturing, and over it went. Not that much beer came out. The damage was done by the onset of something that resembled an erupting volcano. Stella froth foamed out at an alarming rate and me and Paul dived for the can. Paul won and I nearly got a black eye by banging into him.

It was about 2am and I was not amused, but I kept my cool. After all, he didn’t mean to do it and let’s face it, we all do it. I decided that he spilt it so he should clean it up and sent him off to get some tissue from Lippy’s tent. I thought that by the time he got there he may have forgot WHY he was there and forget to come back, but he didn’t. As he was attempting to get out of the ‘door’ - small tent entrances are nothing like a door. More like a catflap – DazG lost his balance, fell with one hand on the floor and the other hand, complete with cigarette, heading towards the roof of the tent. I grabbed hold of his fag hand, grabbed the fag and wouldn’t give it him back until he had left the tent.

He was back quicker than I thought with something in his hand. He fell through the door once again, somehow managing to miss the puddle of Stella, and handed me a pile of tissue. Not just any tissue. He had retrieved it from the bin by the look of it. It was covered in… something. I have no idea what. No way was I going to use that to wipe my bedroll. God knows what germs were on it. I had some toilet roll so I used some of that. When it was dry I asked Paul to turn the bedroll over just in case it was still damp. The other side would be dryer.

Underneath was a lake of Stella. All over the sewn in base of the tent. Every time we moved it was spreading further and further. How the hell were we going to clean up that lot? We could have done with a boat pump, there was so much of it. So, off I sent him again. In the meantime I used more toilet roll to soak it up, followed by babywipes to try and get rid of the stench of sour alcohol and stickiness.

When DazG returned, I decided it was time to get rid of him. As lovely as he is, I knew I wouldn’t be able to relax. He’d either set us alight or drown us. Then I heard a lovely sound. Lippy was stirring. I told DazG I needed to go to the loo and that Lippy was awake again. Paul also said he need the loo. Daz said he was coming with us.

The toilet block nearest to us had four toilets. It was about 100 yards away and we had to walk between lots of differently sized tents. This meant there were guy ropes everywhere. When I bought my tent it came with an accessory pack. A torch that you fit on your head was included and I had hung this up in the tent to act as lighting. I took it down to guide us to the toilets. DazG was slower and less sure footed than us – you would be after copious amounts of Stella – and he tripped yet again over a guy rope.

We finally got there and I entered a cubicle. That meant that three others were empty. For some strange reason DazG decided to ‘go’ in the hedge right next to a cubicle and when I came out, there he stood, manhood in hand – it was either to small or too dark to see it - only just managing to miss his can of warm booze. We made our way back to the tent, made our excuses and DazG staggered towards Lippy’s tent. Paul and I spent the next half an hour listening to Lippy telling him to fuck off into the other bedroom and leave her alone.

Finally all was quiet. No snoring and no DazG to babysit for. But we still couldn’t sleep. Someone was walking around with a torch lighting the tents up. Maybe it was security, I don’t know, but it was bloody annoying. So there we lay in our sleeping bags, over-tired and wanting to sleep but not being able to. By now it was well passed 3am and it was freezing cold.

Paul’s sleeping bag is shaped like a mummy. He is well over six feet tall and to fit in it fully meant that he couldn’t move his legs. I was ok because mine was oblong shaped. Plenty of room in mine for a midget like me. We started talking about how we would create a new range of sleeping bags designed to keep you warm and allow more freedom. The idea of having arms sown into a sleeping bag turned into the vision of an oversized romper suit made of pink fluffy material, complete with fluffy tail and bunny rabbit ears. We were in hysterics. It’s strange how when you are so tired your imagination runs wild. We laughed at the thought of the uaf outside jumping around in these romper suits shouting their usual stupid one-liners. At one point I must have fallen asleep for a split second while talking, because I woke up still talking and wondering if the sentence fitted in with what I’d said previously. It was definitely time to shut down and recharge. We were talking crap and our batteries were drained.

The next thing I knew it was four hours later. It was 8am. People were bustling about, the monstrous noise of the portaloo was in action and my eyes felt like I’d gone two rounds with Mike Tyson.

To be continued…

THE RED, WHITE & BLUE BNP FESTIVAL, PART 3 - THE PROTESTERS

The streets were quiet, but as we entered Codnor, which is about one and a half miles away from the RWB site, we spotted two protesters. They were early. They shouldn’t have started gathering until 9am. That is what the ‘peaceful protesters’ had arranged with the police. Where we surprised? Of course not.

The journey into the site was lovely. The Derbyshire countryside is beautiful. I went to my tent for an hour and lay there wondering what today would bring. It was another glorious Summer’s morning, we were at our yearly festival and NOTHING was going to spoil it. Especially a bunch of unwashed, drug addicted, violent, brain-dead misfits.

As the day passed I grew more tired. Not once did I hear the protesters, but outside it was a different story. News was beginning to filter through. Lewis hadn’t come back and I was worried he was caught among the baying rabble outside the RWB. It took him seven hours to gain entry to the site and it took another friend four hours. They kept trying to find another entrance, leaving and returning to get in.

But we are true British patriots. No matter what, our members were determined to get in and get in they did…

Police on horseback were trying to stop the protesters advancing and trying to block the streets to stop our members gaining entry. They were fighting with the police but only nineteen were arrested. The police allowed them to form a deep line across the roads and our people were sat in their cars unable to move neither forwards nor backwards. Some of the BNP members got out of their cars and decided to form their own line across the road, but the police forcibly made them get back in their cars. A local resident was so disgusted with the protesters that she carried out cups of tea for our people.

Another local resident was not allowed to visit her dying father. A police officer was reported to have told her that she ‘had to wait’. Someone reported to the police that they thought they saw one of the scum pass a gun. The police officer said he couldn’t do anything unless it was used. There were stories of protesters pounding on cars and smashing windows and atm machines in the surrounding area so we couldn’t get any money. But the worse story was of a man and his distraught daughter, surrounded by the screaming uaf scum. The young girl was in tears as the boot-boys funded by the Government and Unions using taxpayers money, screamed abuse.

But the one thing that really is disturbing is that instead of the police arresting the scum, they moved them on only for them to return and rejoin their fellow zombies. I call them zombies because of the similarity in their behaviour. A crowd of unwashed, brain-dead nutters, arms outstretched, chanting the same line over and over again while trying to get at their goal. The only difference being the zombies want to eat brains to survive, whereas the uaf and friends (or is that fiends) are not quite sure why they chant their rubbish. Brainwashing at its finest.

Inside, we were oblivious to it all. The only nuisance for us was the police helicopter that spent the whole day hovering above and around us. Personally I didn’t see the drone they had announced they would be using, but I heard some say they had. The only time we had rain was for an hour or so while the scum were protesting. We had a laugh at the thought of them hurrying off home drenched and scared they may get clean.

The only scary moment we had was when the wind blew the marquee so hard a wooden cross-section snapped and security evacuated everyone. We were all allowed back in, in no time and the speakers commenced their speeches, thanks to the brilliant ground staff.

We were originally going to spend the night once again in my local pub but I decided I wanted to stay in my tent. Why bring a tent if you are not going to use it?

And so I did and Saturday was one of the best Saturday nights I have had for a very, very long time.

To be continued…

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THE RED, WHITE & BLUE BNP FESTIVAL, PART 2 - OLD FRIENDS

As Lippy and I walked around the marquees I thought how well laid out they were. Each area of the country had its own marquee and flags adorned avery stall. The marquees are provided so that each area can raise money for its branch. It is not mandatory to have a stall but it is another way of getting to chat to people and make a few pence for our cause. Leaflets cost money, especially the profession type that we use, so every penny comes in useful.

One of the first people I came across is also one of my favourite British National Party friends. He is one of the founders of The British Patriot, the new online shop that opened its doors last week and he has been a British National Party member for many years. His stall in the Welsh marquee was quite big as it contained many of the items from The British Patriot. We had a quick hug and a chat and then off we went for a bite to eat and to look around all the other marquees before I returned back to run the Amber Valley stall.

I managed to find most of my friends, some who I’d only spoken to online, but one was missing… The Green Arrow. We had never met before so I was dying to put a face to the man behind the words. A little while later someone came over to tell me that The Green Arrow, GA for short, had returned from walkabout.

What a wonderful man he is. He is witty and smart and such a flirt. He told me how beautiful I looked even though I knew I looked awful. I HAd been working non-stop for the past two days shopping, cooking and gathering the items for my stall. He knows how to make you feel good about yourself.

Later that evening after we had closed our stalls a few of us arranged to meet. Some of them had arrived in a camper van. Of course Amber Valley Borough council not only took away our alcohol and entertainments licences as they had the previous year, they had also banned caravans and camper vans from the site. Not a problem. I had already told them they could drive to my house, park up and we could go to my local pub for a few hours. And that is what we did.

There were five of us in all. After a short walk we arrived at the pub to a warm welcome from the landlord and landlady, Billy and Kate. A couple of others from the sight rang and asked for the postcode so they could come and join us and we spent the rest of the night in the busy little pub talking about anything and everything. We finally left around 3am and I collapsed into a deep sleep feeling comfortable in the knowledge that I was surrounded by good people.

The next morning I was woken by Roger yanking the duvet off me and shouting at me to get up. We had overlaid. At 7am it suddenly clicked. We needed to get going as soon as possible in order to avoid the protesters. I quickly brushed my teeth, had a wash and after screaming at Lippy to hurry up, rushed outside and jumped into the camper van.

I am not good first thing in the morning. I am one of those people that needs time to wake up before I can get into the swing of things. It usually takes me around half an hour. This morning was different. Roger could see we needed something to get us going and we spent the journey listening to the Sex Pistols. It was deafening but we didn’t care. We were singing at the top of our voices and looking forward to the day ahead.

A combination of British National Party opposers had threatened to disrupt our festival in any way they could and to stop British National Party members from getting onto the site. They tried that last year and failed miserably. Would they succeed this year?

To be continued…

THE SETTING UP OF THE RWB 2009

Sunday’s for me are usually a quiet affair. Sunday is a day for good food and plenty of rest, ready for the week ahead. Yesterday was different. I spent the day helping with the set-up of the Red, White & Blue.

It was a beautiful, sunny summer’s day and I took the mile walk up to the site at a leisurely pace. I couldn’t help but notice how many people had taken the effort to hang the Union Flag. If you were to believe what they say in the papers you would think the people of Denby and Codnor didn’t want the BNP anywhere near, but the flags tell a different story.

As I neared the entrance a security guard greeted me. He got on his walkie-talkie, one of the organisers came to greet me and took me up to the fields. There had been a set-back because of the weather and there was such a lot to do in such a short time. The festival was only 5 days away and only one marquee had been erected so far. I’d expect the area to be waterlogged because of all the rain but it was dry; perfect for camping.

It wasn’t just local people helping out. People had come from all over the country. They were from Liverpool, Blackpool, London, the South coast, East coast; a good mixture of friendly, happy, hard-working people.

I set to work, getting out the marquees from storage, with a lovely bunch of guys. They were so heavy, it took four people to pick up just one and I knew I’d be suffering this morning. Looking at the pegs made me feel I was in ‘The Borrowers’. We loaded them, a couple at a time, on to a trailer attached to a quad bike and they were delivered to the appropriate spot for erection later. Everyone worked well together and the job was swiftly done.

Around lunchtime someone came to tell us lunch had been provided. A marquee had been erected to provide us with free food and drink and freshly made soup and sandwiches was on offer. Tea, coffee and soft drinks filled a separate table. We sat around tables soaking up the sun eating, drinking and laughing.

After lunch, Lewis and I went on to the camping field to lay out the camping and road areas. The area was to be sectioned into four separate areas by metal stakes and rope. This should have been done a few days earlier but rain had put a stop to that. We worked to a plan that allowed enough space for the huge lorries that would delivering later in the week and we had to work quickly; campers were already turning up for the event. In fact we had to ask one camper to move his tent because he was outside the designated camping area. He took it well bless him, despite the searing heat.

It isn’t easy swinging a sledgehammer in that heat. With me being female and Lewis a small lad we struggled with it. At times we were in fits of laughter because we just couldn’t manage it. We worked out a plan that I would hold the stake while Lewis hit it. Not a good idea. He missed, took the skin off the side of his hand and I was worried he may take my head off, so we changed roles. By the time we came home one of the four camping areas had been completed and six marquees erected.

By this time we were shattered and ravenous again. We nipped to McDonalds for a Big Mac, brought it home and sat and ate it on the patio. I’m not a fan of fast food joints but yesterday it tasted wonderful and to be honest I could have eaten two. It was only then that I noticed I had sunburn on my shoulders, face and chest. It’s not sore but I put some cream on that turns sunburn brown. It’s fantastic stuff.

Lewis and I spent the next hour or so drinking San Miguel and discussing our plans for the Amber Valley stall before he went off home and I went upstairs for a good nights sleep.

I awoke this morning feeling extremely tired; my knees, arms and back ache like hell, but it was worth it and I’ll be doing it all over again.