MORE than 150 peace protestors from Tavistock headed for London on Saturday for the biggest anti-war march in British history.

Armed with strongly worded banners, they braved freezing cold conditions to demonstrate their opposition to a military strike on Iraq.

Organisers of Saturday?s march estimated around 2-million people from across the country converged on the capital, but several other sources put the figure closer to 1-million.

People from Tavistock and Okehampton were taken to London by four coaches organised by Tavistock Peace Action Group (TPAG).

Martin Mowforth, of Tavistock Peace Action Group, said the volume of people on the march was remarkable.

?Everybody was overwhelmed by the sheer numbers who turned out,? he said. ?We were all in awe of it and at one point I looked back down through Picadilly and it was just a sea of people and posters.

?Tony Blair now knows he can?t go to war with the support of the British people. It will make his decision a little less easy.?

Mr Mowforth said there were mixed emotions on the return journey to the South West.

?Some people were elated by the event and the sheer numbers involved,? he said. ?Others were depressed by the idea that Tony Blair may ignore it and go to war anyway.?

He added: ?One of our main fears is that they will now bribe, cajole and blackmail their way to getting their second UN resolution which, in their terms, will legitimise military action, but in my terms will undermine everything that the UN stands for.

?It is an organisation that was set up to prevent war, not to initiate it.?

TPAG co-ordinator Margaret Quinn, who took part in the march, described the event as ?very worthwhile?. She said: ?It enabled us to do something positive instead of just accepting Tony Blair?s opinion on the Iraq situation.

?It has shown him the strength and breadth of opposition to war, but we have to keep protesting and writing to our MP because that?s the only way to get anything done.?