00:00:00.000 - 00:00:15.960

What made you decide to join Greenham Common, Sheila? Well, I was already a member of a very active peace group in North Devon, a place called Coomartin. It was a very quiet, sleepy little village.

00:00:17.600 - 00:00:28.260

I can't remember. I think it was the fact that cruise missiles were coming, but there were lots of other things as well. We were writing to political prisoners

00:00:29.400 - 00:00:43.740

and the international. We helped the miners during the miners' strike. We did fundraising for them. We did an annual fundraise for Oxfam

00:00:43.740 - 00:00:56.140

every year in the village, and it was a real village effort. So it was a very active peace group, men and women, all different political

00:00:56.140 - 00:01:08.460

and religious persuasions. We had visitors over from Russia to stay with us. We were also involved with Pensioners for Peace. So that gives you an idea

00:01:08.460 - 00:01:20.380

of just all the sorts of things we were involved in because we wanted a more peaceful world, and at the heart of it was the fact that we were developing these huge weapons

00:01:21.000 - 00:01:31.140

which could wipe out the world. So what's the good of having an ideology if you've got to kill for it? And I certainly, right from the word go,

00:01:31.300 - 00:01:48.560

thought no cause is worth the death and destruction that would ensue, you know? So I felt very strongly that when cruise missiles came, and there were other American bases in this country.

00:01:49.100 - 00:02:02.960

There was one at St. Morgan's, and I used to go there quite a lot, and in fact got arrested, and then they dropped the charges. So I was quite active from the word go,

00:02:03.100 - 00:02:15.220

and not all members of our peace group would deliberately break the law like I was trying to do because they were teachers, or they already had jobs, and it would mean them getting the sack,

00:02:15.500 - 00:02:30.480

but they would come along and support whoever was trying to make a statement by being arrested. And how long were you at Greenham for? I never stayed there any longer than the two weeks.

00:02:30.700 - 00:02:39.580

There was a period of two weeks when I went with my friend Janet, and she still lives in Coombe, Martin, and we'd put up our tents.

00:02:39.720 - 00:02:54.320

She had three children, four children at one time, but suddenly one died. I had four children, and we were both in situations where if anything happened to us, we had that time

00:02:54.320 - 00:03:06.160

because Janet worked. She was a nurse. I worked. I was a partner in our restaurant and hotel in Coombe, Martin, and did the cooking,

00:03:06.480 - 00:03:16.080

so while I was away, it meant my husband had to make extra arrangements plus look after four children, so it wasn't easy for him,

00:03:16.540 - 00:03:29.140

and it certainly wasn't easy for me to leave them all at home, so I never went any longer than two weeks camping at a time, and on the other occasions I went,

00:03:29.220 - 00:03:39.780

I used to go up for the day. You'd take up food, toilet rolls, things like that for the women because there were women there who stayed for years.

00:03:41.080 - 00:03:56.520

They'd set up a peace camp. I was there when we encircled the base. I used to organize coach trips along with another woman who I think she was based in Barnstable,

00:03:58.020 - 00:04:12.840

and we could fill up a coach easily for women to go up there, but that was then for the day. Sometimes we'd take the children, but I was always a bit concerned

00:04:12.840 - 00:04:26.300

that it might get too rough or too threatening, and certainly my youngest daughter can remember being very intimidated by the perimeter fence with the razor wire,

00:04:27.020 - 00:04:42.260

and there'd be military police the other side watching us, so she found all that very frightening. What facilities were there for children at the camp? Nothing much that I can remember, no,

00:04:42.340 - 00:04:53.360

so you had to keep them really close to you. I never felt that Tamsin, she was the youngest one, would be at risk. I did take up, I'm sure I took up,

00:04:54.280 - 00:05:05.260

one of my sons, Brendan, only the once, because, again, it didn't seem appropriate. I may be wrong there. It's such a long time ago.

00:05:05.880 - 00:05:16.620

Certainly Catherine and Tamsin came with me on a couple of occasions, but thereafter I always thought it's better if they stay at home.

00:05:17.100 - 00:05:31.400

And did you stay at a particular gate? There were different gates, but I can't remember. I can remember us once blockading the main gate and just singing songs and the police being there,

00:05:31.400 - 00:05:42.360

and it was all very good-natured. I was never involved in any direct or violent confrontation with the police. I can remember Olga Maitland being there.

00:05:42.920 - 00:05:56.020

She was, from the opposite point of view, she thought nuclear weapons were a marvellous idea, so she used to bring parties down, and they would be setting up their opposition to us.

00:05:57.200 - 00:06:09.740

No, I can't remember the gate. Yellow seems to spring to mind, but I do love the colour yellow, so it might be that. I know when we camped for two weeks,

00:06:09.980 - 00:06:21.080

Janet and I, we just camped in the woods. Again, there was some structure because there were places where it was best not to go because we had to go to the toilet,

00:06:21.320 - 00:06:34.660

and we menstruated, so we needed some privacy. So there were areas in the woods that we had to make sure were kept clean and tidy, but just were for a bit of privacy, you know?

00:06:35.720 - 00:06:53.440

And so when you first went to the camp, was it what you expected it to be? Well, it was very powerful because, you know, I was missing the children,

00:06:54.440 - 00:07:12.580

and Janet and I decided we'd be mourned that we knew. We had to travel light because we could be moved on. We could have been attacked by people who were opposed to what we were doing.

00:07:13.520 - 00:07:24.100

Anything could have happened, and you go there, and I can remember, just like my daughter, Tamsin, being so affected by it, these huge fences and the wires.

00:07:24.200 - 00:07:37.360

You see them around detention centers now in this country when we treat people so badly. It's a shock to see it when I like to think nice things about people

00:07:37.900 - 00:07:52.280

and to think there were these horrible weapons and people were prepared to attack us for daring to say, well, you know, these weapons are wrong, seemed the wrong way around to me,

00:07:52.400 - 00:08:03.160

but also I'm a bit of a softie, as you can tell. I do cry easily. That was a shock. I can remember it had a profound shock on me,

00:08:04.700 - 00:08:19.220

and that's when I thought, oh, my children, and I subsequently thought they've always known of my fierce opposition to nuclear weapons, and I think they were made aware of it when they were young.

00:08:21.340 - 00:08:32.700

And it's quite a burden for children. I do think that. They knew, I felt strongly they knew that after work, I'd be writing letters to various people

00:08:32.700 - 00:08:43.720

and things like that, and I would go off and I'd do this and I'd do that. It's very hard for children who just want to play and have a nice time, you know?

00:08:43.980 - 00:08:57.620

Yes. And how and why do you think the decision was taken for Greenham to become a women-only camp? Well, I suppose it's a space for women.

00:09:02.520 - 00:09:17.440

Men, well, they've got louder voices. We still live in a patriarchal society, and it was a space for women to be on their own. I think my husband felt that it was okay,

00:09:17.440 - 00:09:29.340

but he didn't like the more strident voices like the Wages for Housework. And they were the Southwell sisters, I can remember them being there,

00:09:29.380 - 00:09:40.580

but I thought they did very good work. So he used to come up to the camp? He came up a couple of times, but thereafter, you know, I said,

00:09:40.660 - 00:09:50.320

well, I'll go, because you want to respect what women are doing. Men have done things their own way forever, haven't they? So it was our time.

00:09:51.980 - 00:10:08.220

But I mean, I certainly couldn't have taken part in the whole process without my husband supporting me. And so what sort of relationship did you or the other women have with the men around,

00:10:08.380 - 00:10:16.100

with the military or the police? Yeah, it was fine. It was fine. I mean, I'm always, you know, by nature,

00:10:16.280 - 00:10:29.440

like quite a respectful person. I respect a uniform, even if I don't agree with them. I mean, I met a conservative candidate for the district council elections today.

00:10:30.020 - 00:10:40.600

But all of a sudden, I said, I'm sorry, I won't be voting for you, much as I think you're a really nice person, but I don't agree with your government's policies.

00:10:41.200 - 00:10:54.780

So I think you can, you know, behind the uniform, there's a person who's trying to hold it all together and keep his family together. And I think you've always got to give people

00:10:54.780 - 00:11:11.240

benefit of the doubt, even if there's some people that you really wouldn't like at all. And what was your relationship with the local residents? I can't remember there being much abuse

00:11:12.960 - 00:11:20.680

from local residents. You know, maybe it was because of how we behaved, because we were everywhere. I mean, when we were up there,

00:11:20.760 - 00:11:31.720

we must have been, we must have disrupted their lives. But I was just, when I was there and you see all the women together, it's very euphoric, you know.

00:11:31.900 - 00:11:44.720

And you did feel very powerful and you just saw, you know, maybe we can make a difference. And even if we didn't, I wanted to be there to say, no, not in my name.

00:11:45.400 - 00:12:04.600

I totally disagree with these weapons of mass destruction. And I should soon be up demonstrating against Trident. I totally support the SNP for wanting a nuclear-free country,

00:12:04.860 - 00:12:15.220

even though other countries have it. You have to set an example and say, no, we're not going to. Whatever you do, we're not gonna do it,

00:12:15.300 - 00:12:30.960

because it's this tit-for-tat, especially at the moment, that gets us nowhere. So what about the day-to-day running of the camp? When you were there for two weeks at a time,

00:12:30.960 - 00:12:40.980

how was it organized? Well, Janet and I were very self-sufficient. I think I said before, you know, we thought, well, we have to move.

00:12:41.140 - 00:12:59.540

And I think we did move a couple of times, just in case. I think, I mean, we used to walk round the perimeter fence and talk to everybody. I can't, I think there were some main meetings

00:12:59.540 - 00:13:14.700

and there were some main demonstrations that we knew about before we went. We'd all had training in non-violent direct action. So we would get up, you know,

00:13:14.760 - 00:13:26.860

we were totally self-sufficient with our food. We bought tins and dried things, and as much as we could for two weeks. And then when we'd finished, when we'd had our breakfast,

00:13:26.860 - 00:13:40.660

we'd tidy everything away. And then we'd be looking to see what we could do if anyone else wanted food, that sort of thing. And there were these other meetings,

00:13:40.780 - 00:13:49.780

like we said about the wages for housework, and they seemed to be very strong. But I don't think either of us went to that. We thought, no, we've just got to concentrate

00:13:49.780 - 00:14:02.800

on this one thing. We're not saying what you want isn't a good idea, but it didn't seem appropriate for our opposition to nuclear weapons.

00:14:02.920 - 00:14:14.760

Paint me a picture then of how did you spend your day? Gosh, I mean, I just don't know. We were talking, we sang, people were coming to see us all the time,

00:14:14.840 - 00:14:33.740

then going away again. There were some major blockades. I should have taken some photographs, shouldn't I? But I don't think I've got any of when we were at Greenham.

00:14:34.640 - 00:14:45.900

We were at other demonstrations when pictures were taken, but not at Greenham. I think we felt very strongly, Janet and I, let's make sure we don't get into any trouble

00:14:45.900 - 00:14:59.560

because we've got to get back to each of our four children. I couldn't afford to be arrested at that time, although I did get carried away and took part in a blockade of the main gate.

00:14:59.880 - 00:15:11.100

I can remember that. Loads of policemen and really them not knowing what to do with us because we were laughing, we were very happy.

00:15:13.800 - 00:15:31.080

It was a tremendous feeling of female solidarity. Do you remember any of the songs that were sung? Yeah, there was one Peggy Seeger song. I won't sing it because I should cry again.

00:15:31.760 - 00:15:52.000

Here we sit, here we stand, here we claim the common land. Nuclear arms will not come out, bring Greenham home. And it went on and on, I think it's in that book. Yeah, we sang loads of songs,

00:15:52.120 - 00:16:11.060

lots of songs that Joan Byers would sing. Pete Seeger or Bob Dylan, although he may sing these songs of protest, but is really quite a conventional person,

00:16:11.500 - 00:16:29.820

but writes lovely songs. But I always remember the Peggy Seeger song. So were there any medical treatments at the camp if anyone was overwhelmed by what was going on?

00:16:30.320 - 00:16:39.620

I think there must have been, it did seem really well organised. When you went to see the women that had been there all the time,

00:16:40.180 - 00:16:48.960

they seemed to have everything there, everything set up. And I know some of them like Rebecca Johnson have gone on to do sort of great things in Europe

00:16:49.820 - 00:17:06.400

with the anti-nuclear campaign. Yes, I mean, we just took paracetamol, ibuprofen, that sort of thing, plasters. But we always felt that we'd be well catered for

00:17:06.940 - 00:17:20.000

should we need any support. But I mean, we were okay, we were fine. So how do you feel about the way Greenham has been represented in popular culture?

00:17:20.580 - 00:17:36.480

Well, it's gone really, hasn't it? It's just sort of disappeared really, as we did, because cruise missiles were removed. The permanent camp was disbanded.

00:17:38.520 - 00:17:52.180

And yeah, life went on, we had to do other things. I mean, I never felt the type, I know there was some women there who gave up everything and they must have been there with their children as well.

00:17:55.740 - 00:18:06.080

I didn't do that. I know there's a peace camp up at Fuzz Lane where people stay there permanently with their children. They've given up their work

00:18:06.080 - 00:18:16.720

and they just stay there in quite bad circumstances. As you can appreciate, Scotland hasn't got the best of weather, but I never did that.

00:18:16.920 - 00:18:43.940

As you can see, I like my comforts. I'm just going to get a tissue. So how would you have liked to have seen it represented? Well, there's never been respect for another point of view,

00:18:46.640 - 00:19:01.820

especially a point of view that says, no, we can't have these weapons of mass destruction. We're treated like a bit cranky, misguided, patronized really for feeling like this.

00:19:01.820 - 00:19:17.660

And I think the world's gone so far to the right now, I have to say in this Brexit time, this terrible Brexit time, it's brought out such extremism on all sides.

00:19:20.700 - 00:19:33.660

I mean, at the time, in a way, the nuclear weapons and the conflict with Russia seemed a little bit easier to understand than what's happening now.

00:19:34.540 - 00:19:48.980

The Cold War, it was very clear, Russia's bad, we're good. Whereas now there's so many conflicting messages and extremism.

00:19:49.840 - 00:20:04.200

And I suppose a lot of people would say, I was an extremist, but I've always thought, well, I've got to do it in a nonviolent way. To absorb some of the violence

00:20:04.200 - 00:20:18.000

that I feel is out there in the world, to sort of, I mean, it's probably the way I was brought up, but to have respect for other people,

00:20:19.900 - 00:20:29.700

but also want to, you know, I felt another world is possible. I mean, we are at the brink of destroying our world irrevocably.

00:20:30.500 - 00:20:44.600

And we've got to do something about it. So I'll probably get involved in that shortly. Just can't believe it. You know, if you just let the status quo go on,

00:20:44.740 - 00:20:56.800

we don't get anywhere. Any major change has come about by people saying, no, you know, we want the vote. We shouldn't have slavery.

00:20:58.360 - 00:21:07.900

There shouldn't be apartheid. And people have to make a stand and that's when things change. But it doesn't change overnight.

00:21:08.020 - 00:21:19.280

You have to keep plugging away. So what's the one thing from Greenham that you would like to be remembered as the- Oh, God.

00:21:20.200 - 00:21:33.320

Piece of wisdom. Well, I was there and I was prepared to do it. To stand up and be counted, yeah. And I want a better world.

00:21:33.900 - 00:21:45.180

And now I'm a grandmother. I get just as sentimental about my grandchildren as I do about my children. Now, I do worry about their future.

00:21:45.400 - 00:21:53.940

I think there's lots of positive things in life, but as a society, we seem to be hell bent on destroying everything that's decent.

00:21:55.140 - 00:22:06.960

So what effect did going to Greenham have on your, was your youngest daughter? Yeah, Tamsin, yes, Tamsin. What effect has that had on her life?

00:22:06.960 - 00:22:14.240

She was frightened, she was frightened. Oh, you need to talk to her. She's busy working now for Tamsin. She's got four children.

00:22:16.800 - 00:22:28.580

But I don't think she's ever forgotten that. No, and so how has it influenced her life? I think she's, she would support, well, she didn't like me going away,

00:22:28.720 - 00:22:37.940

but she was perfectly happy with her daddy, I know that. But I suppose I missed her. I probably missed her more than she missed me. I miss them all terribly.

00:22:38.920 - 00:22:50.320

But she has said to me since how frightening she found it. And she never told me that when she was a little girl because she was just, she trusted her mummy to look after her, you know.

00:22:51.040 - 00:23:05.300

But she said afterwards that she felt very frightened. So that's what made me think. And like some of my grandsons now, they're very troubled by world events and everything.

00:23:05.600 - 00:23:16.400

So it's how you shield the people who are vulnerable, isn't it? Try and protect them. And that experience for your daughter at Greenham

00:23:17.280 - 00:23:29.840

went on to influence the rest of her life by the career she chose. Well, I think it certainly affected Catherine, who's my oldest daughter,

00:23:30.580 - 00:23:44.400

because she wrote in her doctorate some words of thanks to us. And how my husband and I had influenced her and guided her

00:23:46.940 - 00:23:59.860

not deliberately by any means, but yes, to a career in international relations, but from a feminist perspective. And she says, it's very hard in academia now

00:24:00.480 - 00:24:18.700

for people who have a different view of economics and a different view of international relations to be respected and understood. So again, I think what's inspired her

00:24:18.700 - 00:24:29.460

is the fact that, well, yes, Greenham wasn't understood at the time, but there are certain things that have to be done. And she's still there, and I'm just so proud.

00:24:29.600 - 00:24:42.760

Well, I'm proud of all my children, but I know Catherine's line of work has been influenced by her mum. By her mum and Greenham.

00:24:42.860 - 00:24:59.700

And Greenham, yes. So what tactics from Greenham do you see still at play in activism and politics today? Well, I mean, you could say the extermination rebellion

00:25:00.240 - 00:25:13.500

is the bits I've seen on the television. I thought, well, yes, look at them all. They're all sat down, they're smiling. They know exactly what they're doing.

00:25:15.140 - 00:25:26.440

Some people may go too far, too far, as far as I'm concerned, but I haven't seen any violence reported or anything. They all seem to be very respectful of,

00:25:27.380 - 00:25:39.580

even the police seem to be, it was rather nice to see the policemen standing back rather than charging in there and tackling these people because there are men there as well.

00:25:40.140 - 00:25:52.060

But I think it's influenced a more peaceful form of protest, a good-natured form of protest because they turned it into like a festival, didn't they? And they brought their families

00:25:52.060 - 00:25:59.780

and they had picnics on there. I thought it was absolutely, I thought it was really inspiring. And there was one bit on the news

00:25:59.780 - 00:26:11.800

where they were protecting, I think it was the Ministry of Defence, and suddenly a woman breaks through and she superglued her hands on the floor.

00:26:13.400 - 00:26:23.280

And her husband was there with her son, and she's an academic, this woman, I forget her name, but she is a climate change expert.

00:26:25.600 - 00:26:37.300

And her son was able to talk about the issue more than her husband because he was interviewed. And he couldn't speak, he's a bit like me, he got emotional.

00:26:37.780 - 00:26:51.000

He had this wonderful moment to talk about the problems our climate's facing, and yet was in tears because of what his wife had done. He was so profoundly affected.

00:26:51.360 - 00:27:06.840

I know just where he came from, really. So I think Greenham certainly was influenced, that the good-natured aspect of it. And you also felt that the police

00:27:06.840 - 00:27:16.020

had learned something from Greenham as well. I don't know. I mean, I know there's bad apples everywhere, and I mean, when you think of the miners' strike,

00:27:16.120 - 00:27:23.680

what happened in Orgreave, that that was all men, testosterone-fuelled, I don't know. I thought that was terrible, though.

00:27:24.240 - 00:27:34.760

That was a violence. That was economic violence meted out by Mrs. Thatcher and her very right-wing government,

00:27:34.940 - 00:27:44.760

preparing to destroy communities. When we became involved with the miners' strike, with our peace group, we were helping the women,

00:27:45.340 - 00:28:03.780

and they became very influenced by Greenham. A lot of the miners' wives went on to education, got involved in local politics, that sort of thing, and developed a much louder voice for their communities

00:28:03.780 - 00:28:16.840

than they would have previously had. So yes, it's like sort of chipping away, isn't it? I mean, I'm sure some of the suffragettes, the suffragettes and the suffragettes,

00:28:17.460 - 00:28:34.160

they had different ways of dealing with their struggles for the vote. But on the whole, well, the suffragettes have influenced Greenham as well,

00:28:34.240 - 00:28:45.260

haven't they? Yes. So why do you think that the suffragettes seem to have had more publicity than the Green women?

00:28:45.480 - 00:29:04.320

Well, I suppose it went on for longer, probably. The women, the suffragettes were force-fed, and I've read horrible accounts of just the effect that had on women, you know.

00:29:05.680 - 00:29:27.000

As far as I know, I mean, I was always treated very respectfully by the police when I was at Greenham. But yes, it's interesting to, when you think now,

00:29:27.140 - 00:29:35.260

I suppose it's the anniversary, well, last year was the anniversary of some women getting the vote. So there were some very good films

00:29:35.260 - 00:29:47.020

that came out about some women's suffrage. It'd be interesting to see if there was ever a film about Greenham, because they could quite easily, couldn't they?

00:29:48.280 - 00:30:01.800

About, for women to even get to Greenham Common, to arrange for childcare and all that sort of thing, to get the funds together and all that sort of thing,

00:30:02.940 - 00:30:12.240

it's quite hard. And some suffragettes were very wealthy, weren't they? But some were very poor. Some had their children taken away from them

00:30:12.240 - 00:30:22.380

because they were involved in the suffrage movement. So I'm sure some relationships suffered as a result of Greenham, because some men would think,

00:30:22.580 - 00:30:34.280

well, getting too stroppy, you want to get over it, you know? And so whilst you were there, did you ever experience any conflicts between the groups

00:30:34.280 - 00:30:45.480

and about how they then made decisions about what was to happen and when? No, no, because we weren't involved in that. We weren't involved in that way.

00:30:46.200 - 00:30:59.200

We went there all the time. So, yeah, I can't remember any conflict at all. We were just, maybe I'm a bit of a sheep,

00:30:59.340 - 00:31:09.060

but we knew about some of the demonstrations and we just headed for that. And I mean, at the time, that was all I was prepared to do.

00:31:09.160 - 00:31:19.060

That's all I could do, because I had to behave responsibly for later on when I got home. So tell me about one of the demonstrations

00:31:19.060 - 00:31:29.620

that you attended then. What did you do? Well, I think we just went to the main gate and there were thousands and thousands of us,

00:31:29.680 - 00:31:37.180

and I can remember the police just sort of backing off to allow us all in, and we were going to sit down and we stopped. I mean, we were,

00:31:39.220 - 00:31:48.180

people did, when they were going by, yeah, you did get people shouting out. I just sort of blocked all that off. But yeah, we just sang songs.

00:31:48.340 - 00:31:59.400

I can't remember, well, people were moved to do whatever they wanted, really. Some women stood up and talked. There was one occasion when we pinned

00:32:02.400 - 00:32:12.280

items from home to the fence, pictures, pieces of writing, artefacts, anything we felt, anything to do with our home,

00:32:13.200 - 00:32:18.880

what we felt was important, that we pinned to the fence. I remember that. Do you remember what you pinned?

00:32:19.780 - 00:32:31.340

I think there were some pictures from Tamsin and Catherine. I think it was Tamsin and Catherine, maybe from Brendan. Our oldest son wasn't particularly interested.

00:32:31.580 - 00:32:47.520

He may have, I think it was mainly pictures. But I can't remember in any detail. And do you have a question that you'd like to ask me

00:32:47.520 - 00:32:59.800

or a question that I haven't asked you and you think, oh, I've been really burning to tell this story or make this comment? Well, I think it would be really good

00:32:59.800 - 00:33:10.160

now you've started asking me about it, is I never really thought, till you contacted me, that it could be part of history,

00:33:10.620 - 00:33:23.700

but, well, history is written in the name of the people who succeed and triumph over others, isn't it? Herstory would be totally different, wouldn't it?

00:33:23.720 - 00:33:37.660

Be the lives of the unsung, more social history, stories of struggle, always stories of struggle. To get our National Health Service, it was a struggle, needed a war, didn't it, to get that through,

00:33:37.980 - 00:33:49.840

to get decent homes. Those were built after the Second World War and all that's at risk now because of this present government's austerity programme.

00:33:50.980 - 00:34:03.880

So I think there's a greater need for Greenham than ever really, the spirit of Greenham that inspires people to get more involved in the lives of ordinary people.

00:34:04.420 - 00:34:16.980

So how would you- To reach out, reach out. I may live in Willand, in Devon, in England, but I'm not, I'm a citizen of Europe and the world

00:34:16.980 - 00:34:29.100

and I want to protect it. There's so much in this world to love and cherish and look after and we have to act responsibly and I think to have nuclear weapons

00:34:29.100 - 00:34:42.540

is totally irresponsible and a waste of public funds when we could be spending our money on better things. Feel that very strongly. And to close with, how would you then describe

00:34:42.540 - 00:34:59.000

the spirit of Greenham? Well, I suppose even though I haven't given it any thought until you approached me, when it was done, it was done,

00:34:59.100 - 00:35:23.980

I moved on to other things. It has inspired me to challenge other injustices, well, what I think are injustices. So I think it's the power of women, you have to say,

00:35:23.980 - 00:35:42.920

to say we want something better. I don't really, I don't think you can exclude half of the population, but I think there certainly should be more women involved in politics,

00:35:43.260 - 00:36:00.580

in world affairs, because I think they do bring, well, they should bring a different perspective on some of the most important issues facing us. So Greenham has been an inspiration.

00:36:00.820 - 00:36:20.220

It was like at the back of my mind, this beacon, this belief that I was there and maybe I was part of changing. I've never really thought of it in that way.

00:36:20.220 - 00:36:36.420

My husband said when he knew that you were coming, well, they're not there now, so I think, oh, maybe I did have more power than I thought. So it's inspiring, it's very inspiring

00:36:36.420 - 00:36:51.040

and it's part of history and the history of struggle. Well, it should be on the curriculum, shouldn't it? Definitely. Sheezy, you said you didn't have any photographs

00:36:51.040 - 00:37:01.180

of your time at Greenham, but you have a very special souvenir that you took with you. Tell me about it. Well, I've got a job to remember.

00:37:02.980 - 00:37:19.540

I've got about four, five, six, seven, eight, nine little objects all tied together by a piece of wool and I did take this to Greenham with me because I just wanted something from all of my children

00:37:20.160 - 00:37:32.260

to carry with me in my pocket that I wouldn't lose, wasn't too big. And you know, you're asking about the legacy of Greenham and I suppose this is a very important outcome for me

00:37:32.260 - 00:37:57.300

because it inspired me like when we left the restaurant and hotel, I went on to study at university and became very inspired in social policy, really, and how one could be part of making the world

00:37:57.300 - 00:38:09.360

a better place. On this piece of wool, I've got a little harmonica and must have come from a cracker or something, but my husband gave me that, he is a harmonica player,

00:38:09.580 - 00:38:25.160

so I took that with me. I've got a little red train that Brendan gave me and a bee, like a thing that you'd hang from a chain on his neck, because that's bee for Brendan,

00:38:25.320 - 00:38:35.580

so there are two things from him. I've got a little shoe from Tamsin because she was about four when I went to Tamsin and that must have been off her dolly,

00:38:35.720 - 00:38:55.320

so a greatly treasured red plastic shoe that's tied there. And then from Catherine, who's now an academic at Strathclyde and says that my activities have influenced her, which is a lovely thought,

00:38:55.400 - 00:39:05.460

I hope, for the good. Anyway, I've got that attached. And I've got several buttons and I really can't remember who gave them to me.

00:39:05.520 - 00:39:17.860

It may have been Robert, that's our oldest son. And some of the, there's a penny there with a hole punched through it. It must have been one of the treasures the children had

00:39:18.380 - 00:39:29.580

and they gave it to me to take with me. So it's very precious to me. That's lovely, thank you for sharing. Yeah, that's very precious.