The Coal Caravan reaches Ferrybridge

The Coal caravan has arrived in West Yorkshire! After a day of cycling 54 miles in the rain the caravan has set up in Pontefract.

Today activists and locals walked from Pontefract to Fairburn Ings, a site which will be devastated by open cast coal mining if HJ banks and the Ledstone Estate are given the go ahead to remove coal. On the way we passed the monstrosity which is Ferrybridge power station and were able to see exactly where the coal from the Fairburn Ings area will be burned. The coal taken from this area will only power the three local power stations for 11 days, yet it is predicted to take 50 years for the area to recover. The affects on global warming will be felt indefinitely if we don’t move away from a coal based power source, to renewable technology fast.

Last night the Caravan had an evening of discussion around the history of coal and the future of coal. The event was booked to take place at Pontefract New College, but the police leant on the college and then told the public the event had been cancelled. Thankfully we were still able to go ahead with the event in the Town Hall instead! The police have been overly present at some aspects of the caravan, but this has simply increased the public’s curiosity with our events and shown how much the police waste their time.

This evening the Caravan will show the Age of Stupid in Pontefract Library.

Tomorrow we cycle North, towards events in Durham and the North East. If you are interested in the caravan there is still time to come along. We have a full timetable over the bank holiday weekend with the local community and extra hands would be welcome. Please check out our website for details of accommodation and ring the caravan on 07729575582 to let us know you are coming.