Greenham Common
I came home from Wiston on the Monday. On the Wednesday (bank holiday week - Paul's half-term holiday) Paul and I drove down to Berkshire to see my Mum. We stayed with friends in Newbury and visited an old school friend in Abingdon.
Whilst in Newbury, we drove up to Greenham Common, which I had been meaning to do for years. It was heartening to see the common returning to the wild. We walked on the runway, now almost covered in a mat of grass and wild flowers. There are cattle grazing on the common again and an abundance of plants and flowers. It reminded me of Thomas Hardy's Wessex - it's the kind of landscape he writes about. Paul said he found it eerie walking on the runway and looking at the weapon silos (now also covered in grass). He'd never been there before. I'd not been there myself since the '80s, though I remember driving past and stopping for a look when I was on my way down to the south coast in '92.
I remember making the trip down from Bradford in December '82 (the year that we had moved north) for the Embrace the Base demo. It's difficult to believe that it was all so long ago. I remember joining the Women for Life on Earth march back in '81 (the march that culminated in the occupation of the common and the setting up of the Peace Camp) several miles outside of Newbury on the A4 Hungerford Road. As we walked into Newbury, some lads on the edge of the Speen estate spat at us and threw stones. There were men on the original march too of course and men at the Peace Camp in the first weeks. Coincidentally, when I was a volunteer at Bradford CAB in 1985-6 I met Steve, one of the original Peace Campers, who had actually been to my house in Newbury for a bath on a couple of occasions whilst living at the Peace Camp. He was also a CAB volunteer at that time. Later on in the '80s we both worked for the Benefits Shops run by Bradford Council. Another coincidence: one of the original Life on Earth women, who also came to my house in Newbury for a bath several times now lives here in Otley. At one time I remember passing on some of my son's outgrown clothes to her for her son. Sadly, she told me when I saw her a year or so ago, that her son died in a car crash a few years back.
Whilst in Newbury, we drove up to Greenham Common, which I had been meaning to do for years. It was heartening to see the common returning to the wild. We walked on the runway, now almost covered in a mat of grass and wild flowers. There are cattle grazing on the common again and an abundance of plants and flowers. It reminded me of Thomas Hardy's Wessex - it's the kind of landscape he writes about. Paul said he found it eerie walking on the runway and looking at the weapon silos (now also covered in grass). He'd never been there before. I'd not been there myself since the '80s, though I remember driving past and stopping for a look when I was on my way down to the south coast in '92.
I remember making the trip down from Bradford in December '82 (the year that we had moved north) for the Embrace the Base demo. It's difficult to believe that it was all so long ago. I remember joining the Women for Life on Earth march back in '81 (the march that culminated in the occupation of the common and the setting up of the Peace Camp) several miles outside of Newbury on the A4 Hungerford Road. As we walked into Newbury, some lads on the edge of the Speen estate spat at us and threw stones. There were men on the original march too of course and men at the Peace Camp in the first weeks. Coincidentally, when I was a volunteer at Bradford CAB in 1985-6 I met Steve, one of the original Peace Campers, who had actually been to my house in Newbury for a bath on a couple of occasions whilst living at the Peace Camp. He was also a CAB volunteer at that time. Later on in the '80s we both worked for the Benefits Shops run by Bradford Council. Another coincidence: one of the original Life on Earth women, who also came to my house in Newbury for a bath several times now lives here in Otley. At one time I remember passing on some of my son's outgrown clothes to her for her son. Sadly, she told me when I saw her a year or so ago, that her son died in a car crash a few years back.
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