Five regulars plus one new recruit arrived at East Grinstead on a beautiful sunny Saturday
afternoon.
The first problem was "Where are the Scientologists?" They have abandoned their presence ('Saint
Hill Information Centre and Bookshop') on the main shopping street opposite the Broadway pub,
perhaps after too many unpaid rent demands.
They have a new location opposite the Ship pub, but their advanced stealth technology meant that I
completely failed to spot it.
We set off by taxis to the main gates of Saint Hill, and parked ourselves opposite the gates.
Despite our boombox turned up to full volume only one security guard (head glued to mobile phone)
made an appearance, although we glimpsed Graeme Wilson sneaking around in the bushes.
The location is on a narrow country road which is obviously very popular as a shortcut to
somewhere so we had to squash ourselves into a narrow gap between the hedge and the road. The
police were very helpful and erected a 'SLOW' sign to ensure safety. Many of the drivers passing
shouted encouragement. Drivers going into and out of Saint Hill maintained a stony silence.
After
about forty minutes the taxis turned up to take us back to East Grinstead and the Ship pub, where
the new Scientology presence was pointed out to us. A pile of rubble and two locked doors. The
Ship is a Young's pub, one of the best watering holes we have found in our picketing activities. We
even spotted celebrity Scientologists Lord and Lady McNair (a hereditary peer, but no longer in the
House of Lords, so no longer with any effect on British lawmaking) .
After an hour or so we emerged
to picket the Scientology dump, which eventually opened one door, to let a couple of Scientologists
with mobile phones wander about. The police asked us to turn down the volume as there had been
complaints (no prizes for guessing who from). We were happy to comply as even on moderate
volume I could still be heard clearly on the far side of the road.
Much support from the public, and the local Baptist church even brought us out tea and biscuits, so
I expanded my usual spiel to include a section about the "R6 implant".
Just before five we called it a day and returned to the station, passing another Scientology
storefront, for the notorious "Greenfields School". This had a publication with a picture of how
children understand complex abstract concepts by clay modelling (writing down the word on a
piece of paper and sticking it in an amorphous lump of clay), and boasting that a child who had
been in the "stupid class" as state school had been top of his class at Greenfields. Either a stirring
vindication of L. .Ron Hubbard's educational technology, or a demonstration that "in the country of
the blind, the one-eyed man is king".
There was another 'educational publication', this time from the US, Volume 1, Issue 1 of 'HELP, the
Hollywood Education and Literacy Project', showing Governor Wilson(!) of California holding a
presentation cheque dated 1997.. I can hardly wait for Issue 2.
We even re-discovered a set of A0 placards we had thought lost back in 1995. Definitely one of our
more enjoyable pickets.
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