When did you first attend the SODEM protest outside Parliament and why did you come? 

11th June 2018.  I had been on the marches, but it was not enough.  I needed to do as much as I possibly could to try to stop the insanity of Brexit, or I wouldn’t be able to look at myself in the mirror or my children.

Roughly how old are you?

66

How frequently did you come and when was the last time you attended?

One to three times a week, work obligations permitting.  Last time was 11th March 2020.

How far from Westminster do you live and what was your travelling time?

New Malden.  12 miles.  35 mins.

What’s your favourite memory?

Telling Dominic Cummings face to face that he is an Evil Bastard.

Tell me your story

After mostly daytime attendences,  I noticed in March 2019 that Barbara Want and others were starting to wear strings of lights in the evenings.  Barbara’s People’s Vote individual illuminated letters looked stunning.  So I decided to add yellow and blue lights to my EU flag.  As the TV crews were set up on College Green, these came across very well on TV news.  I then made a series of illuminated signs: REVOKE, STAY IN and MAYDAY which got others interested and a small group of regulars, known as the night shift, or the illEUminati displayed lit up flags and signs on many evenings, sometimes so late that I had to run for the last train home.  There was a tremendous spirit of cameraderie, which still persists.  Latterly the cameras have gone and my visits were during the day, often at the Cabinet Office or Carriage Gates,  Houses of Parliament.  I continued making placards, mostly unlit, except for STRONGER TOGETHER and REJOIN (which I am holding in reserve).  The culmination of the illuminated era was 30th December 2019, the last SODEM before the dreaded Brexit day.  Many came with lit flags and placards.  I needed more than 60 batteries to power mine.  I have had the opportunity to speak face to face with Johnson, Cummings, Gove, Rees-Mogg, Farage, Francois and others and tell them exactly what I thought of them and Brexit.  It has been wonderfully cathartic.

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