Elfins on the march!

The pensions and cuts protest in Newcastle and Gateshead was the biggest march in the city that any Venturers and DFs could remember. There were members of every one of our age groups at the march, from some very noisy Woodchips who did a great job of blowing whistles, through to those leaders that are a bit closer to actually receiving pensions.

Mia is an Elfin from Newcastle who joined in a big march to protest against changes to public sector pensions. She has written about her day here:

"Today my school was shut because of a strike. I went on a march in town and there were thousands of people. They were there because they were striking about their pensions. On the way, my sister Hufi gave me a sausage roll. Someone gave me a flag and my sister Saskia got a sign saying no cuts. My flag was my favourite and I liked the teachers sign. It said if you can read this sign, thank a teacher. That means that teachers do a very important job. That is why they deserve a pension. People need pensions because when they are old they can’t work but they need money. I met Roger and Wendy who are my woodcraft leaders. There were people there who were teachers, firefighters, university teachers, binmen and some other jobs. There were lots of other children too. I have learnt about what a strike is and why they did it. I’ve learnt the different teachers unions. They are the NUT and NASUWT. My flag was purple. It said UNISON on it and it had green stripes. I had a lovely day and my legs got tired on the way back home from town."