What a day that was to be a part of – exciting, satisfying and oh, so moving! We were there to stretch our pink scarf between AWE Aldermaston and AWE Burghfield, which provide the warheads for the submarine-launched missile system and to protest at the renewal of Trident at a cost of 120 billion pounds when the country desperately needs that money for health, welfare and education.
Three trains, a short bus ride and nearly 6 hours later and I was there, surrounded by lovely people and pinkness. The 32 photos will give you a feel of the day but what cannot be captured are the sounds and the feelings. Do click to read the captions that tell you the whole story of the day.
I walked from Aldermaston to the first milepost and back, hoping to spot our 23 piece length but I didn’t see it. All along the way, people were in small groups or singly preparing to hold up the scarf at 1pm and everyone had cheery words to exchange. At 1pm I stopped walking and took my place in the holding up of the scarf. This was accompanied by a wave of sound – of bells and whistles, of whoops and singing, of drums, saxophone and an accordion that swept along the line and which we could hear continuing in the distance as it passed. Then up the line came the message that it was time for the two minutes of silence to remember the 69th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki and the silence travelled powerfully along the seven miles. It was an incredibly moving experience.
Next came the bells and the signal to start rolling up the scarf ready for re-purposing as blankets and each of the seven miles collected at their own milestone with their enormous pinwheels of knitting for speeches, singing and cake!
Text messages allowed me to meet up with my choir friend and Quaker, Kate, who inspired me in the first place to get our group together to knit so it was most appropriate that we were together for the singing and the speeches. Jaine, the force behind this event is an inspiration!
My camera makes a compilation video as I take photos. It is not a quality video but it does give an impression of the day with some sound. If you’d like to see it, please comment and I’ll answer with the link. Here is a link to the BBC’s coverage. Peace to you all.
