On 20th May 1997 police, baileffs, and unknown men-in-black, started removing protesters from the site of what is now Manchester Airport’s Runway 2. It would take four weeks to remove everyone from the tunnels and the trees, and twenty years later they still haven’t built another runway anywhere in the UK.
Twenty years later we’re going back, to remember old times, and to remind the world of the terrible environmental cost of air travel.
If you were there, if you wanted to be there, if you saw us on TV, or if you just want to protest the climate impact of aviation, please come along.
If you want to walk to the rally, we will meet at 11:45AM at the free car park by Northcliffe Chapel, on Altringham Road, Styal (SK9 4JQ) for a 2 mile walk along the beautiful Bollin Valley. The path can be muddy in bad weather, and is unsuitable for puchchairs or people with mobility problems.
The rally will be held at 1PM by the roundabout where the footpath from Styal crosses the A538, behind the Airport Inn (formerly the Moat House), a place called Oversleyford Bridge. There is a limited amount of unofficial free parking here. Please go round the corner and don’t block the crash gates.
After a short rally we will walk to the Bollin Tunnel under the second runway, which was the site of Wild Garlic and River Rats camps in 1997.
If you need a lift, or collecting from Styal or Manchester Airport railway stations please post below.
Please bring memories, photographs, stories and music, and lets make this a great day. We were right twenty years ago, and we are still right.