ANTI-wind farm protesters braved howling gales to speak out against new turbines.

The gathering took place on White Horse Hill, near Uffington.

Organiser Joanna Lambert, 47, made a speech in which she branded the wind turbines at Westmill Farm "five stab wounds driven into the heart of the Vale."

She said: "Millions of people over the last 4,000 years must have walked along the Ridgeway marvelling at the intimate beauty of the Vale.

"Until that awful day ten days ago the walker's eye drifted to the church towers, to the tall poplars and oaks.

"Yet now five massive industrial turbines with angry noisy blades cutting the air will dominate the landscape for decades to come, and shatter the peace and serenity for those around."

The project to install five wind turbines on the old airfield near Watchfield was completed last week.

Each 1.3 MW turbine stands 50m tall and has 60m rotating blades.

Once operational the 30m blades will generate enough electricity to power the equivalent of 2,500 average homes for 25 years.

However, Joanna said the wind farm would be costly and inefficient.

She said: "Even when the blades are turning, electricity is not necessarily being generated unless the wind blows at the right speed.

"Because of this irregularity this plant will have to be inefficiently backed up by fossil fuel power.

"It seems a cruel trick that 10 to 20 per cent of all our energy bills in future will be a hidden levy to fund this ongoing rural destruction without any serious clean electricity produced."

Joanna said she was pleased by the support she had received at the meeting.

She said: "It clearly shows that I am not the only person deeply concerned by this."

To join a contact mailing list for the campaign contact Joanna at jrjlambert@aol.com.