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After 750 mile trek, peace pilgrims deliver message to Downing St


Nine weeks of walking finished for a group of pilgrims when they arrived in London from Iona last week. They had been carrying a message that the £100 billion the Government are proposing to spend on renewing Trident nuclear weapons would be far better spent meeting essential human needs.

Once in London the Pilgrims visited Downing Street; met with MPS, including Guy Opermann (Hexham, Conservative) at Westminster; and held a large public event in Trafalgar Square.

On Saturday afternoon the pilgrimage made its way from Friends House in Euston Road, through busy London streets including Covent Garden, to the final gathering. The Pilgrims and their supporters formed a large circle at the base of Nelson’s Column where they held a moving 15 minute silent vigil amid the noise and bustle of the city in summer.

The walkers, many of whom are elderly, had got up at 6.30am every day for two months to walk 15-20 miles to present their Declaration to Parliament. This calls on the UK Government to abandon the renewal of the Trident nuclear missile system, prioritising instead the NHS, education and other hard-pressed public services.

In the course of their walk they spoke to thousands of ordinary members of the public they met. They feel that by doing this they have ‘taken the temperature of the country’ on spending on nuclear weapons. The vast majority of people they met did not want to see scarce resources spent on a nuclear weapons system for Britain.

Accommodation and generous hospitality was provided by pilgrimage supporters along the way in church halls, Quaker meeting houses, private homes and on one occasion among the pews of a church.

From the outset the walk was followed closely by the press, with coverage in local media in all areas they passed through. There were also live interviews with local radio stations, mention in the Guardian and coverage by the BBC and ITV from Downing Street.

The seed of the idea was sown in a sermon by Rev Alan Macdonald at Hexham Abbey and picked up by Hexham Quakers. They collaborated with other religious organisations, Scottish CND and other groups to organise the epic walk. Pilgrims were of all faiths and none. All walkers took part in silent vigils at various points along the way.

The Pilgrims have now dispersed to their homes across Britain to resume their usual lives.

For more information see: www.justpeacepilgrimage.com

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