Wimbledon WI at the Wave
Four of us met at Wimbledon Station at 10am on Saturday morning, myself, Elaine, Laura(?) and Moira and then we made our way to the WI meeting point at the Mayfair Library in South Audley Street. Here it was all very civilised and very WI - Coffee, sandwiches and Mince Pies! It was very nice to chat to other members from around the country and some had started their journey to London at 5am that morning.
I would think there were about 70-80 WI members in total and at 12 noon we all set off to the main rallying point in Grosvenor Square and met up with the thousands of other people who were taking part in the rally. It was very difficult to all keep together but all the other WI members were very pleased that Wimbledon WI had brought their banner as it was very easily seen above the heads of everyone else- so everyone just followed the banner!
We eventually started slowly moving through Mayfair and Piccadilly and as we were heading along Grosvenor Street we were spotted by another WI member, Janet, who had not been able to meet us earlier but wanted to join the march, so we were now 5 – easily the largest group from a single WI as the others were just 1 or 2 members who had come on their own.
We eventually reached the Houses of Parliament at about 2pm. By this time there must have been tens of thousands of protesters but everyone was very orderly and even the Police complained that we were not animated or vocal enough! After walking in front of Parliament we then walked across Lambeth Bridge and along the South Bank as far as Lambeth Palace. There the police said we had to stop for a while before moving us all on along the main road to Westminster Bridge rather than along the riverside footpath as it was too crowded.
Because of the delay at Lambeth Palace we arrived at Westminster Bridge at about 3.10pm so we were not sure if we had missed the big Wave as this was due to take place at 3pm. At this point it started to rain so Wimbledon WI used their initiative and diverted into The Meridian Hotel on the south side of the bridge for a very upmarket cup of coffee and biscuits! (and the use of their toilets, as by now we were all bursting!)
After resting our weary bodies, and fortified by the refreshments, we took a walk around the German Market on the South Bank before getting the train home from Waterloo. At the end of the day everyone who had taken part was very pleased they had done their bit for Climate Change, even if we had missed the main focus of the Wave.
Want to know more - click here for the organisers website