In 2007 the fascist British National Party moved their annual ‘Red, White & Blue’ shindig to the small village of Codnor in Derbyshire. The event was held on private land owned by BNP member Alan Warner, but was unwelcome by his neighbours. The BNP ignored their objections, and Warner’s neighbours were forced to endure the spectacle of a fascist rally in their previously quiet village. During the event, and for over a month afterwards, villagers had to contend with gangs of drunken thugs loudly singing Nazi drinking songs, swaggering round their village sieg-heiling. They had to put up with BNP scum using their gardens as toilets, vomiting in the hedgerows, and making noise at all hours of the day and night.

In 2008, and again despite widespread local opposition, the ‘RWB’ returned to Codnor. This time though, Antifa mobilised to oppose it. The threat of militant action by antifascists caused the police to oppose the BNP’s drinks licence for the event, and led to strict conditions being opposed upon the event.The mobilisation also meant that this year the fascists were ‘confined to camp’, but the village was swamped by a huge police operation, as the cops sought to protect the BNP from militant antifascists. Over 30 people were arrested opposing the event.

Antifa has caused the BNP, and Alan Warner, to think twice about holding their fascist rally in Derbyshire again, but they have not abandoned the event altogether. This year it looks as if Essex will be unlucky enough to host the BNP, and local people can expect to have to endure what the villagers of Codnor had to contend with.

David Shapcott lives in a quiet cul-de-sac on the edge of Burnley. The only busy period of the day is the school-run, when local parents drop off or collect their young children from the local school. It is Shapcott who organises the BNP’s annual rally. While he lives in peace and quiet, he brings mayhem to the lives of others, and helps to stir up hatred against the ethnic minorities he probably rarely even sees.

No doubt Shapcott generally sleeps soundly in his bed at 6 The Spinney. There are no thugs goose-stepping up and down his street or singing ‘The Horst Vessel’. In the early hours of this morning (Tuesday 17th February) however, Shapcott was given a very small taste of what those unfortunate enough to live near a ‘RWB’ site have to contend with – as were those who currently have him as a neighbour. At around 2.30am the peace of The Spinney was shattered by the activation of a dozen personal attack alarms deposited close to Shapcott’s house. The devices are loud, long-lasting, and would have been very difficult to locate and silence.

Posters put up on The Spinney and on surrounding streets read as follows:

“SORRY TO WAKE YOU UP!

“At least you’ve not been woken to the sound of Nazi drinking songs, the noise of people having sex on your front lawn, or groups of drunken yobs using your garden as a toilet.

“For the past 2 years the people of the small village of Codnor in Derbyshire have had to put up with this, and worse, for weeks at a time – Thanks to your fascist neighbour, David Shapcott of 6 The Spinney, who organises the British National Party’s annual ‘Red, White, & Blue’ rally.

“They don’t want him and his fascist thugs back. Nor do others want the BNP in their backyards. Do you?”

David Shapcott may not be quite as unpopular on The Spiiney today as he is in the village of Codnor, but his neighbours may now have an idea of who he is and what he is responsible for. Who knows what will happen on The Spinney next.

It may be more than 6 months since the last ‘RWB’, but Antifa have not forgotten.