FROM tiny tots clutching their hand-crafted colourful banners to Second World War veterans, more than 3,000 people made history at Speech House.

Campaigners came by car, on foot, on bicycles, on horseback and with dogs to show their opposition to Government plans to sell off our Forest of Dean.

Environmental guru Jonathon Porritt predicted the Hands Off Our Forest rally on Bank Holiday Monday could be a decisive turning point for the Government.

"Maybe this is a defining moment – the point at which people say this is not right," said the former head of Friends of the Earth, adviser to Prince Charles and founder of the Forum For The Future. "If this campaign in the Forest of Dean becomes the symbol of re-thinking what we want from our Government, it'll be a great deal more powerful than what Mark Harper and his colleagues currently believe.

"I feel very empowered to be part of this. I've spent 35 years of my life campaigning for one cause or another. This is a campaign that has at its heart the integrity and spirit of a massively powerful group of people which will undoubtedly win the day."

He warned: "Do not be seduced by the siren words of Mark Harper, the forestry minister, or anyone else in this Government when they tell you everything will be all right once you get to see the White Paper. That is just a whole farrago of lies, lies and lies. They would like to see as much of the public forests estate as possible sold off into private hands, with as speedy a receipt coming back to the Treasury as possible."

HOOF chairman Rich Daniels said the spirit of Forest 1831 anti-enclosures hero Warren James was alive and well. He said: "We're a broad church of people who've come together to save our Forest – what we are not is a political group. It's our turn in history to pick up where others have left off."

Thousands began the day with a procession through the Cyril Hart Arboretum, and were led across Speech House Meadow by Forest of Dean Brass. The band defiantly played the Dambusters' theme.

Baroness Jan Royall told thousands of attentive listeners: "We're standing in the middle of a glorious forest that belongs to us. We cannot and must not allow our Forest to be sold.

She added: "Don't wait for the consultation that's been promised: act now! We have fantastic support but we need more. That's why your letters are so important. So get writing to our MP and especially those councillors who didn't have the balls to sign up to the resolution from Andrew Gardiner, adopted at the last council meeting.

"I need to be able to demonstrate to the Government that the campaign to keep the Forest in public ownership is serious and has massive public support, as we can see today. Go for it, and campaign, and we will win!"

As well as speakers, which also included the Bishop of Guildford, the Rt Rev Christopher Hill, who lives in Ruardean, Ian Waddell from Forestry union Unite, Eric Morris from the Freeminers' Association and Henry Mills from the Commoners' Association, there were protest songs performed by Mike Edwards, Bob Smith, Matt and Tamzin Powell, Asha Faria-Vare, Roger Drury and Bill Hobman and poems by Max.

Folk singer Dick Brice aired a fresh protest song along with his Forest anthem Land Between Two Rivers.

He told the crowd: "Foresters are decent, kindly and generous but they do bear grudges, and Mark Harper had better bear that in mind."

As snow began to fall, many took refuge inside a heated marquee, which doubled as a café and information centre. More than 600 people wrote letters to Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman, while HOOF raised £992.65 for its fighting fund. The group's constitution decrees that any funds remaining when the campaign finishes will be divided between the Friends of Lydney and Dilke Hospitals.

Conservative opponents of HOOF such as Coun Terry Glastonbury attended the rally, but MP Mark Harper was nowhere to be seen.

Police said they were more than happy with the event. "It was a great family day out," said one officer.

The rally culminated in the burning of the BIG BENt fire sculpture, built by Phil Bews and his crew, and the hardy folk remaining warmed themselves close to the embers symbolising the destruction of a Government proposal.