19th September 2006

Twenty-five years ago, the largest women's demonstration in modern history began at Greenham Common when 36 women, four men and several children marched on the Berkshire airbase to protest at the arrival of 96 American cruise missiles.

The demonstrations, which took place at the height of the Cold War, quickly grew, and at one point 50,000 women from as far a field as Australia and New Zealand joined hands and encircled the base. Although some men offered practical help, delivering firewood and other supplies, the vast majority of protesters were female, and they had strong support in Stroud.

Some weeks, as many as six coachloads of campaigners would leave the Five Valleys to join the fight to force the US to withdraw its weapons. Tactics included lying in front of military lorries and decorating the perimeter fence with paper doves. On one occasion five-miles of fencing was cut down there were hundreds of arrests over the years.

Stroud District Green party member Dr Carol Kambites, now 57 who works at the University of Gloucestershire, and was a regular visitor to Greenham said: "I didn't actually live there but I had great admiration for those who did because it wasn't easy. It was amazing, women from all over the country were involved and some from Australia and New Zealand joined the demonstration."

Carol Kambites who recently resigned from being a town councillor for Stroud due to moving out of the town centre, added: "It did have an impact on politicians, although they never admitted it and the effect wasn't immediate. It also started the whole idea of peace camps at military bases."

The women claimed a victory when the 96 missiles were eventually removed - the last was flown back to the US in 1991. But the camp endured until 2000 to ensure the site remained free of US weapons. RAF Greenham Common was eventually closed and the land passed over to the local authorities.


See Guardian 9th Sept 2006:
 http://www.guardian.co.uk/nuclear/article/0,,1868489,00.html