ADULTS and children from across the area joined more than a million in London's Hyde Park for the biggest single protest the country has ever seen.

Two coach loads of protesters set off from Otley early on Saturday morning for the Stop the War Rally which attracted numbers put by the police at 750,000 and by march organisers at two million.

Whatever the number, it was the biggest show of feeling ever seen in the capital and one mirrored by smaller demonstrations in cities and towns all over the world.

In Otley, around 200 people also crowded into the Market Place to hear Harold Best MP, town councillor John Eveleigh and parish vicar the Rev Graham Buttanshaw argue against a war with Iraq.

A hundred people from Otley set off from the town at 7am on Saturday and although they failed to reach Hyde Park, they joined the thousands filling the capital's streets.

Sandra Flitcroft, of the Otley Stop the War Group, which organised the trip to London, said protesters had felt they had been part of an historical event.

"It was a very moving thing to take part in. Obviously, there were well over a million people and probably even two million there. The streets were absolutely full and crowds stretched for as far as the eye could see.

"We started walking towards Hyde Park separately but had to give up at 5.30pm because we had to get back to the coach," she said.

Ms Flitcroft was joined on the march by her partner Howard Stone and sons, Jevan, 12, and Jowell, nine. Mr Stone and Jevan gave up tickets to see Manchester United's game against Arsenal to go to London.

"They thought they'd rather go to the demo than the match, and we did manage to get rid of the tickets through the supporters' club," she added.

Pat and Denys Stockdale, from Park Way, Pool-in-Wharfedale, travelled to the march with the Rev Doug Jones and Canon Denys de la Hoyde.

Mrs Stockdale said: "We are all retired people who have never before felt called upon to march but we all had our own reasons to do so.

"Mine stemmed from my great belief in democracy and the democratic process. In the case of the proposed war in Iraq, I felt very strongly that the process had been sidelined and I needed my voice to be heard.

"I believe Saddam Hussein is an evil, probably mad, man, who has committed many atrocities in his country. He needs removing, of that there is no doubt, but what I question is the means being employed."

Mrs Stockdale said the crowds protested against war and for peace.

"We were told on the day that two million people were there. We moved no more than one and a half miles in four hours. We got nowhere near Hyde Park and never heard any of the speakers".

One of the youngest marchers, Rowan Purvis, 13, was prompted to write a poem called Why?

"As the sun rises on a brand new day, We all know it's meant to be this way. We all think that war is mad, All it does is make people sad. War always means the innocent die, Why?'

l The Otley Stop the War Group now plans to carry on distributing leaflets in Otley on Fridays and Saturdays and is planning to stage a benefit concert in the near future on a date to be fixed.