WELCOME to this URBAN OCCUPATION. It's a unique action and maybe a bit different from things we've done before. Here's a few practical things you should know. But first, a big THANK YOU to Hammersmith Unemployed Workers Centre for letting us meet here. They'll feel most appreciated if we don't leave their place in a shit heap.

WHERE ARE WE GOING?

Can't say just yet. Somewhere near Croydon. The actual site will be revealed just before we get there.

THE PLAN.

Might not seem like it now, but there is one - honest! We will be setting off together in one - or maybe two or there -groups. If we can't occupy our first site, we have another one to go to, and there are other contingency plans for various things that might go wrong. Wherever you are on the way, there should be people with mobile phones who are in touch with what's going on. If we need to come back here to reorganise and go of again, that won't be a defeat - just adapting to circumstances. If there are too many people for the coaches, a group will need to stay behind here and either the coaches will come back and pick you up or you'll be able to go to the site by public transport.

ARRIVING AT THE SITE

At site 1- our first objective - coaches will pull up in the land. Tat lorries and travellers' vehicles will drive through the site gate. Please get out as quick as you can and get onto the site, following the vehicles. Then we can shut the gate and we've done it ! If the site gate is blocked, travellers vehicles will go to another place (they'll know where) and wait. Tat lorries will approach the site another way and unload just of it. If this happens, lots of help will be needed quickly to hump all the tat on to site. If we have to go to site 2, people on foot will find it easier to enter the site by a different gate than vehicles.

WHAT NEXT?

Let's take 10 mins to look around then have a SITE MEETING. From then on, the people who knew where it was have finished their job and now WE'RE ALL IN CHARGE OF EVERYTHING. No more wannabe field marshals. The obvious first decisions will be: Where's the best place on site for travellers to park? What gate will we use as site entrance? The important first jobs will be getting the tat unloaded, erecting a reception structure near our chosen gate, and leaflet ing the neighbourhood.

NEIGHBOURS.

People will be living on at least one side of the site. WHEN WE TAKE OUR SITE, PLEASE CELEBRATE QUIETLY. It's bank holiday Sunday and the neighbours won't appreciate being blasted out of bed by us. Please consider them in everything you do while we're on site. We're here to gain there support and to work with them to make the local eyesore into a decent place for all of us.

THE LAW

LEGAL DEFENCE AND MONITORING GROUP are monitoring the occupation today (but probably not on later days). They are wearing bright orange bibs. Their role is not to take part in the occupation or intervene in any incidents involving the police, but to observe and gather evidence which will help the defence of anyone charged. They also have a BUST NUMBER which is 0171-837-6687. Legal help for anyone arrested or assaulted will be available from this number. Ring if you are arrested or assaulted or witness either of these things happening. Make sure you take one of their BUST CARDS which explains your legal rights in more detail. THANKS to LDMG for their support today. They are always glad of donations to help continue their work.

Apart from LDMG, we also have a POLICE LIAISON TEAM. It includes several lawyers. Their job is to talk to the police so you don't have to. They will be contacting senior officers as soon as we're on site. Tell any police who approach you that the Police Liaison Team is in touch with their superiors. PLEASE AVOID WINDING UP THE POLICE. It's not what we're here for. We've got much better things to do.

If you are order to leave the site by the police under section 61 of the Criminal Justice & Public Order Act, you may be liable for arrest if you don't do so. Even if the police are wrong in law (which is quite likely) you may still be arrested.

MEDIA

There will be loads of them! A special posse of people has volunteered to "chaperone" the media, show them around, give them press releases and interviews, make sure they don't get too cheeky with cameras, etc. The media posse aren't "leaders" or "spokespeople" any more or less than you are. They're not thereto stop you talking to the media if you want - or ignore them if that's what you prefer. Its up to you.

TRAVELLERS

This stuff has been suggested by travellers involved in planning the occupation, so it isn't motivated by any anti-travellers crap. Because the main idea of this occupation is to demonstrate what can be done to build houses, create community facilities and cultivate urban wasteland, the planning meetings thought it wou ld be best to set aside one part of the site for travellers' vehicles. This will prevent the view of what we're doing from outside the site being blocked and avoid it seeming like "just another park up". Which part of the site is best for that is up to you, the travellers. At site 1, the people who sussed it have a suggestion to make, but it's your decision. Where you chose may affect which entrance we use and how we arrange other things, so it needs to be sorted soon after we arrive.

If we find a situation where we can get bodies, rucksacks etc. on site, but access for vehicles is blocked, several places have been sussed where you should be o.k. to go and park up for a while and wait for a phone call or message to say we've got access sorted. If we can't get vehicle access at all we'll have to aim for an alternative site, but we don't think that'll happen. One or two of the Legal Observers will stay with you all the time until you're safely on site. When waiting at the park-up, best to stay in your vehicles if possible, ready to move quickly. Your legal observer(s) should be on the pavement beside you.

We're aiming not to get roadblocked on the way. It would cause traffic chaos in London, a nyway. But if it does happen, you might want to break off immediately and head for one of the park-ups mentioned above. You will know where they are by then. The rest of us can deal with old bill.

Please make sure you get a call sheet before we leave. It will have mobile numbers for other people involved. You should also make sure YOUR mobile numbers (hope you've got a few) are on other people's call sheets.

MONITOR WELLS.

What are they? site 1 was polluted by its previous industrial uses. The pollution should have been removed when the buildings were demolished, and looks like it has been. But there is at least one - and probably more -monitor wells. They are small, very deep holes through which the ground water is sampled to make sure no pollution is left. They have small rectangular metal covers and look like the water board ones you see in the street. Just leave them alone and don't build anything over the top of one, please.

CARS.

All the big planning meetings have decided we don't want any cars or vans on site (except travellers' living vehicles and the tat lorries which are hired and will be off site as soon as they've unloaded). SO IF YOU HAVE A CAR OR VAN PLEASE LEAVE IT HERE IF POSSIBLE. and get on the coaches with everyone else. You can come back and collect it by public transport . If you have more gear than you can take on the coach, load it onto the tat lorries. If you must bring a car or van, please follow the convoy behind the last travellers' vehicle. Please don't park in residential roads near the site. There are some industrial ones which will be better.

KIDS

Site 1 has a feature which could be dangerous to small children (under 6 or 7). You'll see what it is as soon as we arrive. Some of the construction we'll be doing could also be dodgy. IF YOU HAVE SMALL CHILDREN WITH YOU, PLEASE KEEP THEM CLOSE TO YOU. Actually, this site won't be very suitable for small children at first. It'll improve as the week goes on and we're hoping to have a children's day towards the end of the first week.

FIRES

We haven't got a lot of firewood and worthwhile wood runs are long and difficult in London. Fires could annoy our neighbours. We'll get a kitchen fire going and another gathering one - at least in the evenings. Please try to keep other fires to a minimum and only on parts of the site well away from neighbouring houses or flats.

EVACUATION

A special message to all bowel and bladder proprietors: Within an hour of getting in site, we'll have commodious compost bogs rigged up. Another hour or less and we'll have a cunning pisser arranged. Meantime, fi nd a corner of the site to piss in (out of site of neighbours). In case of delays, best place to have your morning dump is here. Now. There won't be anywhere to crap on site until the compost bogs are sorted.