THE campaign against drilling for gas in the Forest came to the centre of Coleford on Sunday afternoon.

There was a carnival atmosphere as around 100 people gathered at the clock in the town centre to voice their opposition to ex­ploration for coalbed methane in the Dean.

A South Wales company has made ‘a firm commitment’ to make one test drill and has the option of doing others.

The Coleford event was one of more than 30 protests against the exploitation of ‘unconventional’ fuels around the UK.

Owen Adams, of Ruardean, who has been a spokesman for the Frack Off Our Forest campaign, read a letter of support from Australia.

The letter came from the Northern Rivers area of New South Wales where a series of peaceful protests eventually saw off the prospect of fracking for gas.

Mr Adams said: “We are not calling for them to (withdraw licences) we are demanding the government ends this lunacy now and withdraws the licences.”

There was music from local singer-songwriter Asha Faria Vare who sang one of her songs about protecting the Forest from drilling, steel band Pandemonium and a ‘scratch’ samba band made up of members of other groups.

•See this week’s Review for more photographs.