On Saturday 23rd of April a demonstration of around 200 marched from the centre of Carterton to the gates of RAF Brize Norton.

Brize is the largest RAF base in the country and is the point of exit and re-entry for most British troops going to Iraq or Afghanistan. Carterton is the small town that sits at the edge of the base, and nearly all the inhabitants are connected with the RAF.

The demonstration was the highlight of a peace camp that had been running for several days to draw media attention to the base, and hopefully to engage in dialogue with the service families in Carterton.

The peace camp was a great success, I slept there on the preceding Thursday night, and overnight Saturday with my 4 year old son. There were about 25 tents; and perhaps 40 campers on Saturday night. The big police presence was intimidating, but the camp organisers were prepared for this, and calmly defused any tension, and insisted on a no drugs, no alcohol policy. The attitude of the locals ranged from supportive to bemused, with only tiny minority expressing any acrimony - although late at night small groups of lads would stand 30 or 40 yards from the tents and shout abuse.

The bulk of the demonstrators on Saturday had come from Oxford or Bristol, and the march was around the same size as the demonstrations in late 2002 and early 2003 outside RAF Fairford, which is only a few miles away. In the lead up to the march on Saturday morning locals and peace protesters were mingling happily in the shops and cafes, but as the morning progressed the police presence grew more and more visible.

The police ramped up an edgy atmosphere; handing out public order notices saying that they believed violent disorder was planned, and their numbers were totally disproportionate, creating an atmosphere like a Millwall away match. This feeling was slightly heightened by there being several English flags on display in the town - but this was unconnected with us, as it was St George's day!

So as we gathered at the Recreation ground, there were a group of about 30 young lads jeering, drowned out efficiently by the Samba band at times, and slightly less effectively by Bristol's Red Choir. The national Stop the War banner was there, and the Swindon Stop the War banner, and the Faringdon Peace Group banner, along with many home made banners and placards. The march was led off by a small group of ex-servicemen.

As we marched to the base seemingly the whole population of the town gathered to watch from the pavements, and there were a few hostile shouts. But the curious thing I noticed was that about 10 or 15 local lads joined in at the front of the march. A further 50 or so youngsters, (mainly young men, but some young women) were streaming along the pavement at either side. At one stage they started throwing chips at the march, but although this initially seemed aggressive, they were actually throwing them for their friends in the march to eat, a good example of how first impressions can be misleading.

At the gates of the base there were several speeches, including one by Kate Hudson, national chair of CND, two speeches from Iraqis, and from the Green Party. I spoke last, and with the prior agreement of the organisers pointed out that as the war was illegal then British servicemen should disobey orders. Just to make the point absolutely clear, I pointed out that I was illegally calling on servicemen to disobey orders, and that if they wanted to test the legality of the war they could arrest me for sedition, and I remarked that there had not been an arrest for sedition since 1972. This speech went down very well but I wasn't arrested! Afterwards Pat Arrowsmith came up and thanked me, pointing out that she was in fact the person arrested 33 years ago! That morning I had been interviewed live on London's commercial LBC radio, and given 10 minutes to explain the rights for service men and women to become conscientious objectors, rather than go to Iraq).

At the camp gate the march merged with the local youths who had been following us, and although they were slightly boisterous, they listened attentively. At the end of the speeches we toppled an excellent 13 foot statue of Tony Blair, which was then beaten with shoes as a traditional Arabic gesture of disrespect. From then on the locals were completely on our side, and they joined in the march on the way back, and even helped push the Blair statue along. Afterwards nearly all the local youngsters came back to the peace camp for tea and cakes, very efficiently provided by Oxford CND. (Who also did an excellent organic vegetable soup).

In terms of engagement with the local service families our impact was extremely positive. Many local teenagers popped into the camp for a chat, and one camper, Martin from Great Yarmouth, seemed able to build an effortless rapport with the teenage lads. He encouraged them to take leaflets from Military Families Against War, and most of them did carefully put them in their pockets to take them away, (although often with a careful show of laddish indifference).

The local teenage girls were a little more open, and we heard stories about how service wives are unceremoniously evicted by the RAF along with their children if their RAF husbands leave them, and end up in council B&B accommodation. We also heard unconfirmed stories that more bodies come into Brize than appear in the casualty reports.

As someone relatively local, who knows Carterton, I had been quite sceptical that any good would come from this action. I must say that I was completely wrong about that, and it was extremely effective, not only getting a hearing from the families of the servicemen, but also gaining good publicity on Central TV and the BBC, and we even got mentioned in Murdoch's Sun.