ENVIRONMENT campaigners will gather again at Twyford Down to mark the anniversary of their greatest defeat but also the start of eventual victory.

Veterans of the M3 campaign want to hold a reunion this December close to the anniversary of the day the Dongas Tribe protest camp was swept away by security guards.

The removal of the camp on December 9, 1992, dubbed Yellow Wednesday because of the colour of the guards' fluorescent jackets, signalled the start of roadworks which ended with the completion of the motorway cutting in 1994.

But it energised the anti-roads movement which eventually saw the government cut the building programme from £23 billion to only £4-5 billion.

Reunion organiser Alex Plows said the campaign had personally been very important. "We strongly believed we would save the place. The eviction on Yellow Wednesday was incredibly traumatic. The security guards really pulled us about. It was awful, I got battered. A lot of us suffered post-traumatic shock.

"Twyford Down has a lot of emotion for people. I lived there from July to December 1992 and it was a beautiful place, an amazing landscape."

Now studying for a PhD and living on Anglesey, Ms Plows said: "Twyford Down was the turning point in the roads programme. The authorities weren't prepared for our passion."

Initial works had started in February 1992 and by the summer the number of protesters was slowly growing. But the Dongas Tribe even at its greatest extent only had about 15-20 permanent members.

The campaign to disrupt the building carried on through 1993 and 1994 with some protests attracting 500-plus people. But the cost of security greatly added to the final bill.

The solstice party will be on December 21-22 on St Catherine's Hill.

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