“So much was written at the time about the Great Mighty Eco-Warriors being so fearlessly altruistic, but the people themselves got missed out. Journalists told of what it meant, but not what it was like…” – Merrick, Battle for the Trees (1996)
February 2018 | Documentary | 98mins | UK | Jamie Lowe
The story of the 1996 battle to stop the building of the Newbury Bypass, told from the activist’s point of view. Created from hundreds of hours of footage, as well as contemporary interviews, it has been distilled into an evocative and historic film. Created from hundreds of hours of footage, as well as contemporary interviews, it has been distilled into an evocative and historic film. A defining account that shines a light on the people whose actions ultimately blocked a government road building programme.
• Trailer for the documentary here
• Review in the Camden New Journal (29.3.2018)
• Dan Carrier radio interview about the film by here
• Designs inspired by the protests here
“I’d kept my sleeping bag half unzipped so I could stay ‘clipped on’; the umbilical cow’s tail of my climbing harness winding out and securing me to a separate loop of rope tied to a branch. Sleeping in your harness isn’t much fun though, so the next day I pulled up two sheets of corrugated iron and wedged them against the framework of the treehouse to form a safe, windproof corner. The house was still the barest of frames; two levels of four-by-two timber lashed in a rectangle around the trunk. Two plywood boards helped form the floor, with a blue plastic tarp for the roof.” – Jim Hindle, Nine Miles
Links:
• The Newbury Bypass Campaign Archive and Timeline
• Newbury Bypass Map (circa 1996)
• Newbury Bypass: Wikipedia
• Newbury Bypass Map (circa 1996)
contact: jamielowe@kinokast.net
