Dissidents at the EECC meeting included from left to right, Jenny Sleep, Gerry Sleep, Stuart Gulleford (press officer for CIB), Julian Fairweather, David Tomlins, Caroline Lange, Bob Field, Shirley Field, Albert Watts and Cynthia Allen.

UKIP, Ken Shuttleworth of St Albans Democracy Movement, and Robert Theobald of CIB were present as were Canon Wheeler and a regional assembly organiser called Mrs Kartupelis.

The Bishop attempted to get us to withdraw the petition and, on the advice of Mrs K, would not sign a receipt for it. He was initially favourable to have a photograph taken, but refused on the advice of Mrs K.

Our petition was signed by about 230 people including the Marquess and Marchioness of Salisbury, by Dr Bradfield of Trinity College Cambridge and by the author and former political prisoner of the Soviet Union, Vladimir Bukovski.

The wording of the petition was drafted by Bryan Smalley who argued that as the General Synod of the C of E had voted for regionalisation, and as the C.of.E had received money from the EU under its 'Soul for Europe' programme to promote Brussels political objectives, and as participation in the regionalisation of England would be contrary to the Loyal Oath that the Bishop had sworn, then the Bishop was unable to be an impartial chairman.

The Bishop had already been challenged on the issue of impartiality by means of letters and articles in the local press sent by Frederick Forsyth, Bryan Smalley and others.

THE DEMONSTRATION
Phase one of our demonstration at New Hall Cambridge on 24 October, the day of the meeting of the so-called Constitutional Convention, consisted of a lobby and protest before the convention. Delegates were presented with Committee of the Regions literature proving the EU link still denied by many regionalisers.

Delegates received CIB's 'Divide and Conquer' leaflet, an expose of the 'Delphi system of conference management' by author Joan Veon, and Mr Bukovski's comparison with the emerging EU superstate with the USSR, as well as material on Germany and its historic role in the EU superstate.

Phase two was the 'Amphibious Protest' on the River Cam. This was inspired by Mr. Bukovski's idea for a procession of eurosceptics through Vienna in the typical Viennese horse drawn fiacres. We hired punts and armed with our placards and flags, our flotilla provided us with some interesting photo opportunities.

Phase three was the return to New Hall to lobby the government minister who was due to address the convention. The Bishop of St Albans came out to meet the demonstrators. He is being used by the regionalisers to provide them with a cloak of respectability.

Mrs K. avoided an introduction to Vladimir Bukovski. Unfortunately the expected government minister never showed up due to 'unforeseen circumstances'. Whether these circumstances were due to the threatened firemen's strike or to the media savvy minister realising he would experience some negative publicity being photographed with demonstrators, we do not know.

Angus, the porter of New Hall College, cagey of us initially, became more and more friendly as the day wore on. He brought out tea and coffee to the demonstrators, including surplus tuna sandwiches from the convention.

We had a contact inside the convention, and perhaps the most telling moment was when an unknown delegate proposed a vote on whether the delegates were for or against regional government. The Bishop said something to the effect of "Nice try but I can't allow a vote on that".

We also collected signatures for the Newcastle Sunday Sun petition for a St George's day national holiday for England.