The October People's Vote March

The People's Vote March on 19 October was another opportunity to join in with those who feel we need to give people a second chance to vote on whether to leave the European Union. We left Swindon on a double decker coach organised by the People's Vote group in Swindon, stopping at Reading services on the way where the coach park quickly filled up with coaches carrying people intending to join the march. We arrived about 10 am and walking through Hyde Park on a sunny Saturday morning was wonderful, especially since there were loads of banners and flags in evidence.

 Above and below in Hyde Park by the cafe

 There were some giant Salvias in a flower bed a bit further along, they were over 10 feet tall, but looked like Salvia Amistad. It's a bit difficult to get an impression of how big they are from the photo.

 There were several sorts of Salvia in the same bed.

 By the time we arrived at the statue of Achilles, there were many people gathering

 I think maybe the statue looks even better from this angle

 From there we walked to Wellington Arch looking fantastic against the blue sky. It was here I met a former colleague, what a coincidence!

 'The Canada Memorial in Green Park, London, United Kingdom, commemorates members of the Canadian Forces killed during the First and Second World Wars. It was designed by the Canadian sculptor Pierre Granche, erected in 1992 and unveiled by Queen Elizabeth II in 1994.'

 There were fantastic costumes, banners and effigies, I thought the Dominic Cummings as puppet master and Boris Johnson as the puppet was really well done.

 It had gone past before I got the chance to photograph it properly. Graham Carter got a fantastic photograph, and said I could use it:

The Queen Victoria Memorial was also looking wonderful against the blue sky.
'The monument is 25 metres high and uses 2,300 tonnes of white Carrara marble. As well as Victoria, there are statues representing courage, constancy, victory, charity, truth and motherhood.
The central monument, created between 1906 and 1924, is by Sir Thomas Brock, but the whole design, including the Memorial Gardens, was conceived by Sir Aston Webb. The Memorial was formally unveiled by King George V in 1911'.

 When we got to Parliament Square, the crowds were tremendous, and people seemed to want to keep moving elsewhere, whereas I wanted to listen to the speeches. There are some great Guardian photos here

 It was strange to be shouting outside parliament while MPs were voting on the Letwin amendment. When the government were defeated, a huge cheer went up, we hoped a further delay meant more of a possibility of a second vote.

 The numbers of people who turned out may have been greater than in March, it was hard to tell, but at least we did something.

As we got on the coach to go home, it was going dark, and there was a hold up because of a broken down vehicle giving me chance to photograph these fantastic buildings

 and this bridge

 It has taken me so long to get round to writing up this post that now we have a General Election on 12 December, and hopefully we will have a People's Vote.