This is a photograph taken by Sharon Mosey, a member of our collaborative group, during our 'Fair deal for the over 50's' protest on our second day of protesting, on the 16th February. We had a lot of cheering us on for this one, unlike during our 'Plaster the wife's mouth up', where we had some rather negative responses.

First protest - 9th Feb

The first protest went better than I had expected. First we protested on behalf of a man selling the Big Issue magazines, where we chanted 'Down with Man U Mark' up to the Cross near St.Peter's church. It was quite nerve racking at first, especially being at the front and having lots of (confused) eyes glaring at you, but once I got into it, it was quite liberating and fun, which I hadn't anticipated.

Next, a lady (see above) gave us 'Down with steps, up with ramps', as she was a wheelchair user and struggled getting about. The reaction of the public was very positive with this one, with a lot of people cheering us on and agreeing with the protest. Another woman came up to us with a pram and was rallying to our cause.

PLAN OF ACTION

Meet at 1pm under the Eastgate clock for the first protest on the 9th February (no longer doing the first one on the 10th and we are only doing them in Chester as it will be easier for our helpers to get there and more cost effective!)

A walking protest up the town hall, via The Cross.

Three placards -Sharon, Tabitha and Sophia holding!

1 video - Julie

1 photographer - Natalie

Next two protests will be 16th Feb & 5th March (as the deadline was brought forward).

We went to see exhibition sites today, across Chester. We went to Kingsway shopping centre, a church, a disused car wash, by the canal and other places.

During the trip, we decided what we were going to do as our flash mob. I suggested doing a protest, but with empty placards; essentially a silent protest about nothing, in order to get some confused reactions from the general public. Then, Julie suggested this, but asking the general public what they want us to protest; to do it on their behalf. We all thought this was a brilliant idea and decided to go with it.

We decided to do three protests, so we could all have a chance at photographing a protest; after all, it is a photography project, even though it is very much performance/art based.

We had a meeting after the trip and concluded that we would do a protest in Chester first as it's quite quiet and close to home, on the 10th February. The second one would take place in Liverpool on the 16th February and the third on the 2nd March in Wrexham.

Doing it in three different locations, we thought, would be good as we might get a range of reactions then.