00:00:00.000 - 00:00:23.600

First question I've got written down. How did you find yourself at the camp and how long were you there for? Okay, I never stayed at the camp overnight, right? Okay, I visited on at least three occasions possibly more. It was such a long time ago I can't remember and I came to it because I've been in CND ever since I was at school

00:00:24.120 - 00:00:46.480

Wait, I'm like, it's quite a long time as you can imagine So I went to my first all the master march when I was about 16 How how my father let me go? I have no idea because he was incredibly protective but I did go and then one year I went with my brother and

00:00:48.100 - 00:01:09.680

It was amazing. I met some fantastic people people. I'd never met the kind of people I'd never met before who were really accepting of everybody and people that were different. Yeah And I was a terrible teenager. I was really sure I was tall and skinny I'm really shy and I didn't feel I fitted in anywhere. But there with those people I felt completely

00:01:10.460 - 00:01:28.020

Relaxed at home and a lot of them were Quakers And we did a lot of singing and it was just wonderful wonderful atmosphere with blisters So really on and off I mean I have to I'm not an active member of CND anymore I still believe in it Yeah

00:01:28.020 - 00:01:45.740

But that's what brought me to Greenham Common was really my kind of more or less lifelong interest in being against Nuclear weapons and then subsequently against nuclear power Well Greenham, yeah, I would have been

00:01:45.740 - 00:02:03.400

It would have been through my local CND group. I was living in Kingston at the time in Surrey And I guess I'm guessing that's how I knew about it or it might have been at that time I was also at college as a mature student and it might have been through the Students Union right about it

00:02:03.400 - 00:02:24.380

because I went with some Friends that I have when they weren't at the same uni as me, but they were friends I had around that time I went with them Could you explain why you think Greenham should be remembered in subsequent generations

00:02:25.500 - 00:02:47.080

What I was just Was it was a formative experience going to Greenham. It was incredibly powerful. I Was there and and the women all of all of us were really angry And I can remember occasions when we just got hold of the fence and rocked it with the aim to bring it down

00:02:47.080 - 00:03:06.960

Don't think we ever actually did bring it down. He's not a bit where I was but I remember the faces of the young soldiers the other side of of the fence and They were terrified. You know, we were like their mothers and their grandmothers and their aunts You know and they had never seen women so angry so many women together so angry

00:03:06.960 - 00:03:24.180

It was it was really really powerful. Okay And I met some great women, yeah, and there was I saw some wonderful sights Yeah, and it was fabulous knowing that I wasn't alone. No, no Yeah

00:03:25.600 - 00:03:44.040

No, not really no, no, I met friends there from other parts of the country Already my friends who arrived there. Yeah, and I went with friends and I went with my daughter one year My daughter must have been about Twelve eleven or twelve. I've written some notes

00:03:51.200 - 00:04:10.000

And I yeah Yeah, so so 80 to 82 82 I think I would have gone with Lucy and she would have been 12 because she was born in 1970 And so very very for she I was asking her about it recently if she could remember things I

00:04:10.840 - 00:04:26.760

Remember. Yeah, and the only thing she remembered was peeing in the woods It was a very long time ago and she's had three children since then But I do think it was a formative experience for Just

00:04:26.760 - 00:04:48.660

There were loads of children there. Yeah. Yeah on the day because we went for the for the demonstrations. Okay, so we went in We went in When we went to embrace the base in December 1982, right and I've got some photos of that

00:04:50.320 - 00:05:00.820

And we also went in April 83 I won't be some friends and I've got some photos of that what we made There was a human chain from Aldermaston to Greenham Okay

00:05:01.620 - 00:05:27.100

So I've forgotten the question now What was what did I remember about it? Yeah How come you didn't stay over Because I have work and I had Lucy and I considered those to be my number one responsibilities

00:05:29.500 - 00:05:43.180

Yeah Well, I had every respect for them, yeah But it wasn't for me. No, so that was my bit I did I did go on my own once and took some food for them

00:05:43.180 - 00:06:01.140

So I did go to some of the the different camps the different colored camps around the around the perimeter But I really thought it was most important to be there for the for the Embrace the base and for the human chain for the big when you know, there were going to be thousands of women I really wanted to add my voice

00:06:03.020 - 00:06:39.840

Yeah, yeah, I was a single parent and if I lost my job You know what? Who knows what would happen so I was not prepared to sacrifice my whole life, but I just wanted to to be part of it So I've got a few things here I wrote down some impressions

00:06:40.820 - 00:07:16.000

So one thing was the fantastic imagery and poetry of the posters and the art tied to the fence I've got some examples of that That's really powerful And there she is that has seen the error of her ways

00:07:16.000 - 00:07:57.420

Not And then there was some the wonderful art that people did around the perimeter that with some tree tree roots Phenomenal yeah, there are creatures coming out of the forest So I could scan all those and

00:08:10.100 - 00:08:28.560

The other thing I remember was this curious combination of humor and joy and hope and fury Yeah, yeah, and then we sang we sang you can't kill the spirit she's like a mountain and

00:08:34.520 - 00:08:57.380

It was I don't think I'd ever experienced the power of women together until that moment to be honest Three months ago, which is when it was starting to get people in and call people in to interview Before they even got any funding or anything. I had an email from my UE lecturer saying

00:08:58.440 - 00:09:15.940

We've got this project because it's I think you'll be a sponsoring it. Oh, are they I think so I've got an email and said do you want to be part of it? Like and I and I email back and said yes, I would love to and I have then had to Google what it was Because I didn't know even what it was. Oh my god

00:09:15.940 - 00:09:47.700

And I thought this is like the second biggest women's movement in the world and I didn't even know what it was Yeah, it's crazy No, I don't think anybody knows about it It's really bad. Really really bad. It is bad. You know, do you know why that would be do you have any sort of thoughts?

00:09:48.300 - 00:10:07.100

I Don't know I suppose I Suppose there wasn't an organization right in that sense to carry the ideas forward It was it was thousands and thousands of individual women groups of friends

00:10:08.980 - 00:10:18.380

I Mean something I was doing this morning I've got some other photos that I would like to share but their photos of my friends and it suddenly occurred to me I needed to ask their permission

00:10:19.100 - 00:10:33.480

And I just hadn't thought it through So I've emailed this morning because they're friends I'm not in touch with or only very very rarely see maybe once a year something like that Who live in Brighton some of them and or Devon?

00:10:34.180 - 00:10:58.080

Somebody else lives in Devon. Don't even know where half of them are but And So I thought yeah one, you know, I really want I really want to talk to them about it. I see what they remember That's fantastic

00:11:00.680 - 00:11:16.940

People did travel from abroad. Yeah Was it a lot of people I don't know I wouldn't know They did mention that we had a meeting about it and we all met up in November I was woman actually there that was at Greenham as well, which was quite nice

00:11:16.940 - 00:11:33.420

And we were all talking about what happened and we had a slight jumble the photos and everything and we had some videos Hmm and the young guy was interviewing like I'm doing to you now He was interviewing a woman at Greenham about 10 years ago But you could tell that he just didn't know a lot about it

00:11:33.420 - 00:11:52.340

so the interview wasn't very good because he didn't get a lot out of it and it was just trying to learn how to Get people to open up, but I don't think because he was I don't know Maybe because he was also a male. I don't know if that made a difference I'm not sure but it was and that was the first time I'd ever seen

00:11:52.340 - 00:12:17.780

The photos from Greenham as well. It was really overwhelming that day. I came home. I just wanted to Like just tell everyone everything. There is a fabulous video about Greenham. Have you not seen it? I think you must you probably have done. Yeah, I think because I found it pretty quickly on YouTube. So, yeah I think people just moved on

00:12:18.780 - 00:12:38.080

You know, there were other things to fight about there were other things Going on there was you know, there was you know That's just the terrible Thatcher years and there's the miners strike wasn't there now. I was really involved with that for a few years And you can't fight on every front and I think

00:12:38.800 - 00:12:49.660

once we Realized the cruise missiles were going and it kind of kind of felt like well Yeah Yeah

00:12:53.560 - 00:13:16.700

Could be could be that yeah Yeah, I didn't go back I think I only went in the early 80s Yeah, the missiles left the base in 1991 Okay

00:13:18.500 - 00:13:33.840

See that was Crazy that the suffragette movement is so massive and There's hardly any media hardly any media then No, and yeah, it was so but then again because I think I was talking about this somebody else

00:13:33.840 - 00:13:57.000

Because they got the vote and that was such a massive thing for women and it changed everything Maybe that was why I don't know People I don't know as if I don't know trying to think about it for ages, but it's difficult Around in that area, I don't know what

00:13:58.000 - 00:14:14.240

Happened sort of close to that that make people not because you had the media back then as well. Yeah Well, we know we didn't have social media. No No It was newspapers and I guess the Guardian probably would have been sympathetic would have written sympathetic articles in the morning star

00:14:14.240 - 00:14:24.840

That's about it all the other all the other newspapers would have would have said we were mad lesbian feminists anarchists

00:14:25.640 - 00:14:51.300

Communists, you know, they would have just painted us as you know, just mad women. In fact, I think I remember that's what they did I think I've read some stuff about stuff like that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Do you think it got more negative than positive? Yeah, definitely. Definitely. Well, the the media is just the same as it is now Yeah was owned although it was it's it's worse now than it was then but even so in those days

00:14:51.300 - 00:15:12.420

There was really only well, maybe the Daily Mirror The the Morning Star and the Guardian would be the only ones that would report in any way Positively about about what we were doing But even then, you know, they were they because of the women who did stay at the camp had

00:15:13.300 - 00:15:31.360

Abandoned their role as mothers and wives and whatever You know, they were accused of neglecting their children and all the rest of it and you know, yeah So it was you know, the usual kind of stereotypical Descriptions of

00:15:31.820 - 00:15:46.700

Women who speak up for themselves? Yes, who have got an opinion and you want to change things and it's ironic to me because The fact that they were women makes it even more I don't know what the right word is, but because they were the ones that had the children and

00:15:47.880 - 00:16:02.800

And they left their families or they brought the families with them because they were the ones they don't really have much of a voice as men That's why it was so important for them to be there Absolutely, and they were thinking about their children's future most definitely they were Exactly, yeah exactly

00:16:03.560 - 00:16:42.400

And I sort of thought well they were thinking of people my age They were thinking I wasn't even born then, but they were thinking of people like me and how my life could be more peaceful Yeah, it's really really amazing How did your experiences change your relationships with men or authority figures?

00:16:42.440 - 00:16:58.920

They didn't change my relationship with men at all Except Well, I don't know if it would have changed my relationship with men But I as I said, I was the first time in my life had ever seen this amazing power of thousands of women together

00:16:58.920 - 00:17:22.000

Yeah, yeah, I mean that was just mind-blowing But I had a very supportive boyfriend at that time Yeah, and I was living You know in no way was I constrained by my relationship with him. I was living the life

00:17:22.000 - 00:17:38.180

I wanted to lead I was At college as a mature student, okay Actually, no when in 1982 I I'd already split up with him actually

00:17:39.020 - 00:18:00.320

Yeah, but you know, it was not it was not a kind of Fractious or difficult breakup. It just wasn't working for us But yeah, no, I was living the life I wanted to lead I I'd gone to university Complete without any idea of this is what you could do in those days

00:18:00.320 - 00:18:23.260

I had no idea of a career just I didn't want to be a typist anymore Because I was a typist in a translation agency, which was really interesting and they were lovely people But all I was ever doing was other people's work just typing up because this is before computers So we have these word processing machines, okay, so going to uni I did development studies and I was absolutely

00:18:23.820 - 00:18:43.980

Fascinated by and I you know, I was one of us. I do the homework. I'd go to the seminars I always had opinions about everything, you know, because you've been working in an office for five years And you're bored out of your crust Going to university and being able to sit in the library and read interesting books just like being in heaven

00:18:49.000 - 00:19:24.280

So Yeah, so I didn't you know didn't really feel constrained by a relationship with a man in that respect, okay And then the men that I knew were I got on with them, okay. Yeah, okay So I've just I've been very lucky in my life. Yeah, in that respect. I've never suffered any any abuse

00:19:24.820 - 00:19:52.820

any issues or problems So I'm afraid it didn't going to I wouldn't say that going to Greenham really changed my relationship with men Okay Didn't see any of them

00:19:56.760 - 00:20:19.580

Okay, I mean it's it's right out in the country, right you know the women that lived at the camp would have had relationships with the local people because they would have had to go to the Shops and get food and other kind of supplies. Yeah okay, and so then the locals would have identified them because of their appearance the clothes they were wearing in their behavior, I guess and

00:20:20.620 - 00:20:33.300

I'm imagining somewhere like Was the nearest town is it reading I can't remember but anyway, it's like English small town and

00:20:33.940 - 00:20:50.940

You know, I imagine it wouldn't have been terribly easy but going there on the demonstration one time We went in a bus a friend of mine had a bus and took us in his bus Can't remember why now I Think that's the time I took Lucy

00:20:50.940 - 00:21:10.460

She was most impressed that we went all the way in a double-decker bus driven by this friend of mine And then another time I went in my car. I had a little Morris traveler. I remember that we saw someone with my friends and one of my friends saw the police writing down my or making a for taking a photo of my

00:21:11.060 - 00:21:31.420

my registration number and I thought well So they've got my registration number. So what you know, yeah They were probably taking them photos of everybody that was arriving. Yeah Was did you see like how they ran the camp like how they put in if they put in sanitary products or clothes

00:21:32.360 - 00:21:55.540

There was no well, there was just masses of sharing really you'd arrive there and there'd be a bonfire or fire of some kind of people would be sitting around drinking tea usually and there'd be somebody in the in a tent making tea or whatever made me making some food and Then you know you just give give them the food that you brought and then sit down

00:21:55.540 - 00:22:20.220

And you know the people would share everything and just have a cup of tea with them have a chat with them Yes, we were all really interested in how they sort of did how they bought the food You'd have to ask somebody who lived there. Have you have you will you have interviews with any of the women? Yes, I believe so. I've got one in Tornton. I think next week. Excellent. Now, that's when you'll get your really useful information

00:22:21.020 - 00:22:37.960

That's fine. Yeah, now what you've given me is super useful though. Good Let me have a look what else I'm just looking because these are some really really good questions on here Did you go to a certain gate when you got there? I can't remember. I went to the main gate

00:22:44.960 - 00:22:53.360

That's fine. Yeah I know there were so many Blue gate? I'm trying to figure out what they all run up

00:23:14.200 - 00:23:33.380

Yeah Yeah, I don't know honestly, I don't remember I think the main gate maybe the yellow gate, okay, I Certainly didn't go to the violet gate because I'm not religious. I might have gone to the green gate. I really can't remember Yeah

00:23:38.140 - 00:24:02.420

I mean, I think I think that some of the most powerful things were when we circled the base and So we were all holding hands of there, but you knew that there were you know thousands of women because it was huge Well, it's a squirrel in the tree He gets he's gonna get the seeds he hangs upside down

00:24:07.800 - 00:24:27.720

You can't quite get at it Sorry to distract you What was I saying? Oh, yeah when we in that was that was very very powerful and when we linked hands, but when we there was a human chain between all the masks and and

00:24:28.600 - 00:24:55.520

Green him. That's the one I've got. I've got photos of So there's Some of the people in the month with this wonderful marching band used to come on events Yeah, they were great. It's another one and some great banners

00:24:58.520 - 00:25:18.000

And so there's Some women holding hands and so knowing that that chain Was going on for I don't know how many miles that is from Greenham to Aldermaston Yeah, it was it was December

00:25:25.400 - 00:26:05.220

No, it's April You 14 miles human chain from Aldermaston to Yeah

00:26:20.060 - 00:26:34.580

I Think I was at the main gate So Yeah, that thing about holding hands was just really powerful because you just knew there were thousands and thousands of other women doing it

00:26:34.580 - 00:26:50.440

And we all we were all trying to stop this evil thing. That was happening to our country and to the world was really Empowering yes to see other people doing to be part of it. Yeah. Yeah just seeing

00:26:51.920 - 00:27:13.200

Yeah Everyone was there and also you see how many people were there because it was 14 miles long. Yeah, just told you Well, yeah, we are hanging around for ages It's really cold. You can see in the photos

00:27:13.200 - 00:27:28.580

And then finally we've got the signal somehow somewhere that the chain had been formed at me. That's crazy. Yeah That's really Really moving. Yeah Yeah

00:27:36.060 - 00:28:03.300

Yeah, so you talked about you had experience so it says What were and have subsequently been your experiences of NVDA a MVD nonviolent direct action No, I've never done anything I've never done but since no, okay, that's fine

00:28:07.060 - 00:28:20.300

I'm quite shortly after that in 1984 I've got my job. I've got the job more I started the career that I've been following ever since which is working with cooperatives

00:28:20.300 - 00:28:38.740

And so that really took up my life full time And I felt like and still do that in my work. I was living my politics So I didn't I mean I've been on demonstrations obviously against the Iraq war although it seems kind of pointless to be honest

00:28:38.740 - 00:28:58.460

Because nobody pays any attention But I you know you go because you just want to feel that solidarity with other people So I've been on a few demonstrations But I've never I've never sat down in the road and allowed myself to be carried off and arrested or any of that

00:28:58.460 - 00:29:18.540

I've always kind of wanted to keep my I've never I've never wanted to I It was never my my my way of working. Okay, my way of working is is different to that

00:29:18.540 - 00:29:33.800

Okay, and I respect people that do it But it's not for me So yeah So when you left the last digital you went three or four times

00:29:33.800 - 00:29:50.520

Yeah, when you left the last time, you know, that's gonna be the last time that you were there. I Couldn't remember which one that was actually. Okay, that's fine. I Mean I didn't when I left I wouldn't have realized it was for the last night. No, no, of course. No You wouldn't have said no

00:29:52.260 - 00:30:20.040

So Would you sum up your experience do you think in like a sentence if you can Know one of the most moving and powerful experiences of my life Unforgettable although

00:30:20.040 - 00:30:36.540

Till you got in touch with me Apparently it had been forgotten just was part of my part. I think I'd never forgotten it It was just like part of my history. What's what made me the person I am I guess Only 20s

00:30:38.060 - 00:30:56.020

What did you think when they got in touch with you or you got in touch with us I was delighted absolutely delighted because then I realized of course, no one's talked about it since And nobody knows so I think it's a fantastic Initiative well done brilliant. Excellent. Excellent

00:30:56.700 - 00:31:24.980

Yeah, how did you hear about it I think I was an email okay, maybe it's Bristol women's voice Is anything you would change If you went back that you did or you did everything you wanted to do Yeah

00:31:24.980 - 00:31:43.160

No, I think there isn't I mean, yeah No, I don't think there is really anything that I would change. No in the circumstances. I Did what I could at the time. Yeah Did you have any sort of?

00:31:46.220 - 00:32:07.320

Interaction with the police or people saw them Okay Probably shouted at them How did your

00:32:08.080 - 00:32:23.060

If you're living with family then because you were Had children. Yeah How did they feel about you going there? Even if you didn't stay over just being there day? I

00:32:23.060 - 00:32:45.020

Can't actually remember They would have supported me yeah, I really can't remember My father was extremely radical he got more radical the older he got and you know Normally people get more conservative with a small see the older they get my father was completely the opposite

00:32:46.480 - 00:33:03.520

It was great I Guess yes. Yes, I guess I was brought up in us, you know, you know quite a radical But what that radical to be honest, not that radical, but no

00:33:06.740 - 00:33:25.480

Certainly I Think you could say my family was my father certainly was quite left-leaning He was a Labour candidate in Hammersmith when he was a young man But he didn't have much time for the Labour Party

00:33:29.080 - 00:34:04.880

He wasn't a joiner it's a kind of person that sits in his armchair and criticizes But I think he would have yeah if he'd know if I told him about it, which I would have done Imagine I'm pretty sure he would have been really supportive. Yeah, but it certainly wouldn't have been he wouldn't have criticized me for going I was born in London where I grew up in her teeth in Sussex and Cookfield in Sussex. I went to school in Brighton

00:34:06.380 - 00:34:18.920

Yeah, I'm very grateful for that Decided to move out of London when we I was about 10 and my brothers were a bit younger So it's great. We grew up in the country. I was just young enough to enjoy climbing trees

00:34:19.660 - 00:34:42.500

Messing around in streams and stuff like that was great Yeah, we were very lucky It's a long story I've lived all over the place let's not waste your I came to Bristol to be near my daughter my grandchildren

00:35:11.280 - 00:36:06.000

Yeah Sorry about this, there's just so many that I wanted to sort of pick out that's fine I Think I

00:36:07.020 - 00:36:25.840

Didn't I didn't really discover feminism till I was quite old so about 19 I probably 1981 when I went to when I went to universities and mature students until then I Was a bit of a hippie in my youth. And so I kind of thought all of that stuff

00:36:26.520 - 00:36:43.440

About sexism and gender didn't really apply to me because I was a hippie which is absolutely the most stupidest thing ever Because you know all of that stuff about free love, you know, well it benefits the men benefits the boys But you know, it's the women who get get pregnant or

00:36:44.080 - 00:37:08.900

Perhaps they're not really ready for it and all the rest of it. So and I never I was just blind to all of that but when I went to uni I Joined the Feminist Society and I would say going to Greenham really strengthened my belief in feminism. I would say yeah Just seeing and just just seeing the power of women together acting together

00:37:08.900 - 00:37:45.540

Yeah Yeah I sort of came out of it really into feminism and it was crazy that I was I'm now so Into it because two years ago. I wouldn't have even I don't think if people would have

00:37:45.540 - 00:38:12.980

Said something to me in the street. Maybe yeah, I wouldn't have even I would just laughed off I wouldn't have even yeah, but now I would be I'm just crazy. I just go a bit crazy Hmm no, it's not crazy If you can't go too far when you at uni when can we go to

00:38:12.980 - 00:38:35.880

That's true Yeah, yeah and then I joined women say there was a local refuge and I joined the management committee of that and found out all about a domestic abuse and

00:38:36.820 - 00:38:55.180

Just absolute horror. So I guess that's I kind of got involved in all of that really Okay, so that would have been as a result of going to Greenham. So I think it you know Made me more aware. Yeah Yeah, and afterwards, yeah

00:38:59.120 - 00:39:25.720

Yeah Yeah Do you sort of you mentioned Greenham to people that you've sort of been friends with over the years never Well, maybe years ago but reason in a recent memory no never

00:39:25.720 - 00:39:48.960

Can I you know as I said kind of consigned it to my my history, okay and Really it was just this project and thinking about it and thinking what what I tried to remember what what it was like And thinking what I wanted to say about it Yeah has made me want to talk about it more

00:39:49.980 - 00:40:15.460

in fact when I found that video on on YouTube, I Forged it to loads of people. Yeah, because it's great. It's really really great. Yeah Oh, yeah, especially if you actually lived there Exactly. Yeah

00:40:17.080 - 00:40:37.720

Yeah There will be women who have very good experiences who won't want to remember it But in itself, I think it must be remembered and those of us who have positive memories must remember it and you Know my grandchildren my granddaughter knows nothing about it whatsoever. I've got to tell her

00:40:38.340 - 00:40:57.280

Talk to her about it. Yeah She's 16 and just, you know coming up really feisty and Really opinionated which is kind of irritating sometimes, but no, she's lovely She's really lovely, but she really knows her own mind. She wants to work in the conservation of animals

00:41:07.320 - 00:41:20.240

Oh All ages all ages I must have been about My late mid to late thirties when I went there and there were women

00:41:20.800 - 00:41:39.380

Younger than me much younger than me older than me and much older than me There were very old women there and very young women and children Mostly I would say around in their 20s and 30s and 40s But certainly I saw loads of older women and loads of younger women

00:41:40.380 - 00:42:07.300

Yeah Yeah, I imagine the people who say that the camp would have been younger women Because it would be quite difficult to live out in those conditions if you were older But certainly the people that attended the demonstrations and embrace the base and all the rest of it were all ages

00:42:09.380 - 00:42:29.780

Quite similar to you Well, I guess because there were there weren't thousands of women living there all the time, right there were a handful of women at each gate Okay, but then hundreds of thousands of women would turn up for these events Huge. Yeah

00:42:30.920 - 00:42:39.980

Yeah Yeah Sort of makes sense in a way I've sort of just pictured this massive sort of like

00:42:41.040 - 00:42:57.900

Community and loads of tents. I guess I don't I wouldn't know. No, no, no, no because there was a the gate the gates Came out onto a road. So there wasn't a lot of space for camping. So they were quite small the camps at each gate Yeah

00:42:59.580 - 00:43:16.400

So it wasn't like a festival or anything like that no, it was not no Yeah, it would have been like but you you need as I say you if you talk to this woman at Tornton who actually stayed There you'll get much more accurate Information than I can give you

00:43:31.660 - 00:44:02.320

I Doesn't make you quite emotional talking about it. Yeah, sometimes it does actually some of the things yeah Is it made to talk about it more since you've been in touch with us Um, yeah, no really but I will do I will do yeah

00:44:07.120 - 00:44:27.460

Did you ever take anything into the camp for Women to use did you ever I took food? Yeah Before yeah, that's good. Yeah You'd always take something yeah, you wouldn't go empty-handed

00:44:36.160 - 00:44:51.660

Yeah, there's a video I found on YouTube that actually films the women dancing on the silo I did that and you yes New Year's Eve. Yeah You know I've seen that one That is fantastic on YouTube

00:44:51.660 - 00:45:22.880

I've seen one or two at the Thingy at the what was it called the presentation me evening a meeting we had What was the medical treatment like that would you never saw her never saw her that's fine. I imagine it was DIY Probably herbal medicine

00:45:27.760 - 00:45:52.980

Yeah What detail or like specific moment would you say summed up for you if there is one that summed up for you I Think the women trying to pull the fence down and the scared faces of the soldiers the other side of the fence It was just like kids really

00:45:54.280 - 00:46:16.840

Young they'd never seen anything like it Yeah, they were they could have been our sons Grandsons in some cases Yeah, just this absolute fury of just we're gonna get rid of this it's gonna go and I you just kind of forgot yourself and

00:46:16.840 - 00:46:31.040

Just got Rocking it backwards and forwards. I think it was too strong for us to pull down But maybe they did pull it down in some places. I can't really remember But I think that was probably a pretty unforgettable moment

00:46:31.560 - 00:46:49.300

Yeah, because it just seems like they're just over they don't know what to do that's me that to That's supposed to be there. I was an authority Yeah, yeah, and they don't know and we are and we were symbolic of figures of authority in their own lives Because we were like as I say, we were like their mothers or their aunts or their grandmothers

00:46:52.760 - 00:47:13.860

No, of course not no, of course not they were poor misguided swords, I felt sorry for them I think I would as well just join the army because They were just you know, like any young person joins the army because they're just lied to and

00:47:17.640 - 00:47:34.620

Seduced by office of you know Learning a trade and learning a skill and seeing the world and all the rest of them stuff. They go on about you know And Yeah, we thought you know, this this base was threatening our security and our safety. I can remember being terrified

00:47:35.140 - 00:47:54.480

To listen to the news sometimes and I would go under the pillars. I would put the pillars over my head So I couldn't hear it And then I remember thinking there was a hearing a plane coming over and thinking it was gonna start drop a bomb on us or Something you know, I was really it wasn't like the Cuban Missile Crisis

00:47:54.480 - 00:48:12.620

Which was really scary, but it was a very It was a very kind of I Can't think what quite what the word is but we were all very very aware of the fact that there was this arms race going on between

00:48:12.620 - 00:48:30.880

the United States and and and the USSR and You Know and we knew that could just be an accident any minute for a kickoff You know and since then been vindicated because there's some really terrible stories about near misses

00:48:31.480 - 00:48:53.720

That you know where nuclear war actually was avoided by you know only just avoided You don't know you don't know but you suspect and it was really frightening time to be alive Well given this bloody frightening now, isn't it? Let's face it. Sorry. Excuse me, but

00:48:54.260 - 00:49:18.820

Yeah, so I just thought they were misguided fools really kids I've you know, I felt sorry for them But it was all I'm saying is I don't want to criticize them Especially and I wasn't thinking about them critically. I was just noticing. Yeah the fear on their faces and realizing that you know The women on this side of the fence were we're threatening to them

00:49:18.820 - 00:49:43.260

Yeah, no never never Were you scared when you were there that anything was gonna happen? No, no, no, I felt very safe there As I said, it was this bizarre mixture of of joy and humor yeah, and

00:49:43.260 - 00:49:56.300

blind fury No No, I've never been involved in anything before or since Because you go on a demonstration

00:49:56.300 - 00:50:13.440

Like, you know going high park all the rest of it and it's all very jolly You've got songs to sing when you sing Maggie Maggie Maggie out out out and it's all It's all kind of jolly and it's fellowship and you're realizing Yeah, there's solidarity and other people feel the way that I do

00:50:13.440 - 00:50:41.320

But you know, the demonstrators not going to change anything. You might hear some inspiring speeches at the end, but there's nothing to get angry about It's not you know, it's not to me anyway, okay, but this was just different really Yeah, I did feel I had to be Yeah, I wanted to be there

00:50:42.560 - 00:51:10.000

As much as I could Yeah, yeah, absolutely, yeah, yeah, I'm glad I'm remembering it and still coming back to me That's great It's I'm not I don't know I think jealous is like wise to use but

00:51:11.340 - 00:51:50.000

Maybe never get to experience that myself as a sort of feminist being somewhere like that and doing something like that No, you never know And I kind of wish that I I was there On the demonstrations there was some right, but the vast majority were women. Yeah

00:51:50.000 - 00:52:30.640

And you can see I Never experienced that and that's as near as I got to the police Yes, it was the young soldiers behind that was standing behind the fence that impressed

00:52:36.080 - 00:53:28.520

Yeah Yeah, yeah, yeah give some real psychological advantage There looks like there's quite a few men and that that was the older moss and chain I

00:53:37.080 - 00:53:53.020

I Guess they did. Yes, there's no photo of me there. I seem to be the one with the camera Yeah, these are all photos I took when I was there yeah Yeah

00:53:58.260 - 00:54:30.340

So we didn't wasn't so much snapping of Photos then as there is now we just take photos of everything all the time Feeds now you can see everything when you're wherever you are in the world. Yeah, you can be together when you're so far apart

00:54:34.900 - 00:54:53.800

Especially because that's how I've been raised well with mobile phones things. I can't really imagine time where people didn't have Phones like house phones, but before that I can't imagine not having any of that No other people obviously they lived they lived that was their teenagers

00:54:57.660 - 00:55:17.160

Do you think that Greenham still plays a part in activism it's If I wanted that right or not, well it doesn't exist doesn't it? No What tactics from Greenham do you still see at play in activism and politics so you don't think there's

00:55:17.760 - 00:55:46.820

a lot there It's difficult to say because the Greenham common itself wasn't was a place it was an object that you could go to and Demonstrate against as they you know, we what we want this base closed down. We want the cruise missiles gone

00:55:46.820 - 00:56:13.540

Whereas there isn't and when I suppose there's some there's the I Don't know if there's still a United States Air Force in but effort Air Force Base in Scotland Because there was there were lots of demonstrations there and I guess they might well have have used But I think in a way the tactics have have developed

00:56:14.580 - 00:56:36.780

Because When people are doing things now like going into Airfields and stopping flights taking off that have got people who are being forcibly Returned repatriated. Yeah, so I think there's people in who've been in court for that just recently

00:56:40.080 - 00:56:57.160

So, I think I Mean it's hard to say that the tactics. I mean, I don't know enough Because again, I think you'd probably that would be a really good question to ask the woman that you're going to interview who yeah Actually stayed there

00:56:57.160 - 00:57:18.240

But I think probably the tactics are the same but they've evolved according to the different situations that people are faced with today But it's still putting your physical body on the line, isn't it? Roads protests and everything, you know people were chaining themselves to To dump us and things like that

00:57:18.240 - 00:57:42.120

You know all of those tactics that I think they would come would have come out of green and but evolved To suit the situation that that makes sense. Yeah So, how does your fair how does your fail nuclear weapons Compared to when you were there

00:57:42.120 - 00:58:03.200

What you're like now? I was just part of the part of the environment. No, I don't even think about it unless I'm reading a newspaper article or listening to the news like the latest thing that President Trump has has said he's he's He's going to withdraw from some treaty

00:58:03.200 - 00:58:19.660

Yeah, and so he's he's going to withdraw from some kind of treaty Putin has said he will too and so, you know another step nearer very dangerous environment So you get scared when you hear that kind of thing, but mostly if you live your whole life with

00:58:19.660 - 00:58:53.840

You know, whatever the fear is if you live your whole life with it around Eventually, it just kind of merges into the wallpaper, right? No, I don't it doesn't keep me awake at night anymore And just a few more What did you know about green and before you went there nothing nothing nothing well, I would have had

00:58:55.440 - 00:59:27.300

Some information from either from the CND group or yeah from from the Students Union or wherever I found out about it That that would be it like maybe one side of a for nothing How did you sort of feel when you got there was it what you expected it I didn't know what to expect no I just went open-minded. I thought was amazing what they were doing and I just went there to support them. Yeah