Stately Protest

It was Sunday 5th January and nearly one hundred anti-opencast protesters gathered in the rolling snow-covered grounds of Chatsworth House in Derbyshire to visit the Duke of Devonshire.

Derbyshire has become one of the worst hit counties for open-cast destruction and the Duke is allowing private developers to destroy part of his land on the Chatsworth estate (although obviously not land within view of the house).

He was well prepared for the day and even seemed quite excited at receiving some visitors. He had the police wave people in past the ‘closed to the public’ signs and had his kitchen hands serve soup to the complaining peasants when they arrived at his stately mansion. His right hand man mingled politely, handing out written statements containing the Duke’s comment on the proposed open-casting, and saying that His Grace would be out in a minute to meet us.

It was an unexpected welcome but before long ‘no open-cast’ flags and banners were out, and a PA was blasting out the sounds of a noisy open-cast mine at work. Three people found their way inside his residence and waved flags from the roof. The doddery old Duke emerged from his cotton wool world to hear the peasants concerns -he told them that he cared about the environment but that he believed in a need for coal and jobs and that decisions were in the hands of the planners who represent the public, not in his. It became easier to pity him than curse him for being an earth rapist.

The peasants left him to his castle and thought what a wonderful summer party venue Chatsworth House would be. For more information on this and future actions contact the Miners Support Group on: 0181 672 9698.