Plane Stupid goes guerilla gardening
Bank holiday Monday, the noise of airplanes passing overhead, Heathrow airport casting its long shadow and the roar of diggers in Sipson. Is it all over I hear you ask? Did BAA slip their nefarious plans for a third runway through despite the weight of public opposition? Fear not, for this bank holiday heralded not the destruction of the Heathrow villages, but the arrival of Guerilla Gardeners on BAA's doorstep.
In the aftermath of the Chelsea Flower Show, the left over plants have found themselves an illustrious new home. Armed with trowels and hoses, and with the expert guidance of Chelsea gardener Tom Hoblyn, we descended on Sipson, Harmondsworth and Harlington on Monday for a spot of illicit gardening, transplanting the horticultural stars of Chelsea into new homes under the shadow of the flightpath.
Check out the photos on Flickr
Together with residents from all three villages, activists from the Climate Rush, guerilla gardening experts and, of course, Plane Stupid spent a sweltering bank holiday beautifying the very villages BAA would like to decimate to build a third runway at Heathrow. The mood on the day was, despite the government giving the go-ahead to the plans, one of hope. We were working together, united in our opposition to the economically and scientifically unviable plans.
We were investing both time and energy into the future of the Heathrow villages, comfortable in the knowledge that the third runway will never be built. And if they try, we won't be gardening Sipson when we go back, but fortifying it. We'll swap strawberry plants and lilies for superglue and lock-ons, but the message will be the same, resident and activist alike: we don't want your runway, we don't want your runway, na na na na, na na na...
