Just ordinary people that have finally had enough, of being lied to, bullied, and accused !

The Red White & Blue - The Annual "DO" (2002)
The Annual DO! - 2003 and 2002

Biggest ever BNP event

The largest BNP gathering in the entire history of the party - that was Red-White-and-Blue 2002! A total of just over 1,000 different people passed through the gate of the stunning rural Lancashire site over the weekend. This was five hundred more than the attendance at the party's previous best-attended event, an annual rally held in East London's York Hall in 1991.
The RWB organising team had bought 1,000 clip-on plastic festival wristbands, but we didn't expect to use more than 700 of them. In the end, however, a staggering 930 were issued to members and guests. In addition, stewards and some key officials did not need wristbands, and children under 16 were also not required to wear them (though many of the little ones wanted to and were duly issued with them). Several dozen local supporters who arrived just in time for the final event of the weekend only were let in free and without bands as a goodwill gesture. Adding these different groups altogether, it becomes clear that the attendence over the weekend exceeded our wildest hopes - into four figures for the first time ever!
To a certain extent, this was a reflection of the wonderful weather on the Saturday, although that factor was partly offset by the fact that a date-change less than two months earlier meant that a number of keen members who would otherwise have attended were unable to do so on account of pre-booked family holidays. Overall, the increase in RWB attendence from 550 just one year ago to 1,000 now is a clear reflection of the growth the party is enjoying. Careful counts at different points in the weekend showed that 800 people were present at the highpoint of the Saturday evening, and again for Nick Griffin's keynote speech on the Sunday afternoon.

Speakers old and new

After the first day of the RWB Fair - complete yet again with excellent regional displays and a variety of sidestalls, Saturday afternoon saw a political meeting featuring mainly regional officials and several recent but very articulate recruits. Enthusiastically chaired by Wiltshire organiser Robert Baggs, this was addressed by nearly a dozen excellent speakers, including Excalibur Promotions boss Chris Beverly, YBNP leader Mark Collett, Black Country organiser John Salvage, Merseyside organiser Joe Owens and B&Q 'martyr' Kevin Scott.

During this event, several of the ladies and older girls, headed by Susie from Dewsbury, ran a very successul Children's Party in another marquee, complete with traditional favourites such as Pass The Parcel as well as the judging of the Patriotic Teddy Bears' Competition.

Family entertainment

The Saturday evening entertainment was enjoyed by a lively crowd that totalled 800 at its maximum. Once again the children's play - based this year on the Northumberland folk tale about the Dun Cow that helped settle the site of Durham Cathedral - proved a popular start to the evening. This was followed by a variety of acts: a beautiful Welsh song from young Rhiannon and her little sister Elen; a piece of biting anti-Blair political satire from Tom Linden; an innovative setting of several Kipling poems to elctronic dance music by 'M.C. Kipling'; and a hastily thrown together folk act involving popular Northern activist Chris Telford and none other than Nick Griffin, with Billy and 'Doc' on backing vocals. Their rendition of the folk classics 'The Black Velvet Band' and 'Wild Rover' had the whole audience singing along.

More professional entertainment was provided by Wales BNP stalwart 'Doc Madness' with his fiery roadshow and unique dare-devil acts including lying on a bed of nails while a powerfully-built assistant smashed a concrete block placed on his chest with a sledgehammer! Also giving a good account of themselves were the two Leeds YBNP activists whose band 'Vortigern' hope to release a CD before Christmas. The combination of their own material and several old nationalist ballad favourites got a deservedly good response.

A spectacular musical firework display rounded off the first half of the evening's entertainment, with huge rocket bursts lighting up the entire Ribble Valley in time to classical music. What a show!

The main entertainment of the evening was in keeping with established RWB tradition - John from Nemesis did his usual tight ballad set, getting the appreciative crowd singing along with his message of hope, pride and passion. Last, but absolutely not least, Stigger displayed the talents as a song-writer, singer, guitarist and crowd-worker that make him the undisputed king of the British patriotic ballad scene. Not only did the audience join in singing, but he even had people dancing in the grassy space between the rows of tiered seating and the stage.
Adding to the warm, family atmosphere of the whole event were two particularly welcome announcements: one that the evening was also doubling up as a Stag Night for Wakefield organiser Graham Hardy, the second that joint Bristol organisers Clive and Michaela - who met through their involvement in the party and were both in the audience - are getting married. Once again, Saturday evening at the Red-White-and-Blue will be a time that many people will never forget.

Sports, fun and fanfare

Sunday saw the second day of stalls out for the RWB fair, and a return of children's favourites such as face-painting and the bouncy castles. Older 'children' - including a team of highly competitive Scots - moved down to a lower field for a knock-out paintball tournament organised by the YBNP. This gripping sport proved very much more popular than a proposed football competition, which it's now pretty clear needs to be organised separately from the RWB, because there just isn't time for the two things at the same time.
The main political event on the Sunday was hosted by BNP Deputy Chairman Scott McLean, who introduced various speakers who had done particularly well in May's council elections. The cheers and applause in the Big Top echoed over the beautiful surrounding countryside as Jason Douglas from London, Simon Darby from Dudley, John Martin from Sunderland and Mick Treacy from Oldham all got up on stage to remind the crowd of just how well they had done in the face of bitter and often illegal opposition.
The introduction of two of the victorious Burnley councillors, Terry Grogan and Carol Hughes, saw the crowd's enthusiasm reach fever-pitch as many saw and heard these brave and historic figures in person for the first time. Nothing could better have prepared the way for the final event of the weekend, the keynote speech by BNP Chairman Nick Griffin, who gave an impassioned description of what the colours red, white and blue mean to people like us in the British National Party.

Chairman's keynote speech

The red represents the thirst for social justice and fair play for working people that the Labour party has abandoned. The white stands for our determination to keep Britain fundamentally British and ethnically and culturally European. The blue represents the traditionalist, pro-family policies that the Tory party has ditched, again leaving us to pick up the torch for such ideals.
The standing ovation that came at the end of Mr. Griffin's speech turned as is now traditional into the communal singing of Jerusalem. Then, as the crowd filed out of the Big Top, 1,000 BNP balloons sponsored by Oldham BNP were released to float away towards Yorkshire. Our hopes soared with them - the British National Party is on the way up, and the success of RWB 2002 is the dramatic proof!

Appreciation

Very special thanks to Sharon and Geoff from Burnley, to Warren and his dedicated team of stewards, and to the lads from Blackburn, without whom the event could not have taken place, and also to Mr. Barnes, the farmer who hosted the event and helped out in so many ways.