Description
Object description
British civilian protester with Greenham Common Women's Peace Camp in GB, 1981-1985
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Maltby, GB, 1925-1939: family background; medical problems among children in family; political beliefs/activities of miner father; living conditions; religious life; family life; brother's injury in accident; community support for disabled brother; community spirit in Maltby; leaving school aged fourteen and various jobs. Recollections of period as civilian in Maltby and Enfield, GB, 1939-1946: employment at Royal Small Arms Factory, Enfield; joining Fabian Society; father's involvement with trade unions.
REEL 2 Continues: work at at Royal Small Arms Factory, Enfield; history of Lee Enfield Rifle; attitude towards war and belief that Allies would win; death of boyfriend serving in Royal Air Force; marriage to late boyfriend's best friend; separation from husband. Aspects of period inn Newbury, GB, 1949-19591940s-1950s: reasons for moving to Newbury; relationship with mother; joining Women's Royal Army Corps; meeting second husband and leaving British Army; death of second husband; attitude towards military service. Recollections of involvement with anti-nuclear movement in GB, 1959-1980: attending various peace marches; reaction to husband's death; interest in pacifism and anti-capitalism.
REEL 3 Continues: contacts with Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) and other human rights/anti-nuclear groups; involvement with blockade against nuclear waste in Bristol and arrest; relations between anti-establishment groups. Recollections of period as protester with Greenham Common Women's Peace Camp, GB, 1981-1985: environmental objections to Cruise Missile; decision to live at Greenham Common Women's Peace Camp; opinion of Greenham Common women protesters; setting up telephone network; attitude towards exclusion of males from camp; links with Labour Party; standing for Women for Life on Earth during General Election, 1983; living conditions at camp; treatment of women protesters by bailiffs; story of van given to her by Dutch anti-nuclear group.
REEL 4 Continues: contacts with and attitude towards trade unions; court case and trial for cutting fence; imprisonment at Holloway Prison, London; attitude towards other inmates at Holloway Prison, London; description of fence cutting operation; question of use of electromagnetic waves against women; visit to camp by British Government minister Michael Heseltine; coping with living conditions; medical problems; food; funding; description of various gate camps; attitude towards radical feminism; attitude towards lesbian issue.
REEL 5 Continues: attitude towards lesbianism and feminism; belief in women's rights; role of older women at camp; different agendas of various groups at camp; attitude towards first period of imprisonment in Holloway Prison, London; status of political prisoners; relations with other inmates; visits to Greenham Common prisoners in Holloway Prison by Labour Party Members of Parliament; question of practice of 'witchcraft' at Greenham Common; occasion when women protesters broke into RAF Greenham Common and danced around missile silos; attitude towards press portrayal of women protesters; story of 'painting' United States Air Force aircraft; 7/1983; self-sufficiency of women protesters at camp; coping with rats.
REEL 6 Continues: sanitary conditions; question of drug and alcohol use; actions against women protesters by Ratepayers Against Greenham Encampment (RAGE). Recollections of visits to Soviet Union and Prague, Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, 1983: attending World Peace Conference in Prague; accusation by journalist John Simpson that Greenham Common women protesters were used for Soviet ends; speaking out against West and Soviet Bloc and arrest by Czech State Security secret police; secret meeting with members of Charter 77 Group; question of whether Greenham Common women protesters were used for Soviet ends; visit to Soviet Union; helping Jewish 'Refuseniks' in Soviet Union; living conditions for Soviet people.
REEL 7 Continues: conditions in Polish People's Republic and East Germany. Recollections of period as protester with Greenham Common Women's Peace Camp, GB, 1981-1985: court case over common land issue; story of women protesters winning fight to vote in Newbury; standing as candidate for Women for Life on Earth in General Election, 1983; reaction of local people to her campaign; reads speech delivered at Labour Party meeting,1983; sings song about portrayal of Greenham Common women protesters in media; creativity among women at Greenham Common Women's Peace Camp; Martha Gellhorn's visit to camp; role as 'facilitator'; lack of hierarchy.
REEL 8 Continues: role of Sarah Hipperson; hunger strike whilst imprisoned at Bullwood Hall Prison, Hockley; importance of keeping healthy; birth of baby at camp; question of use of electromagnetic waves against women protesters; question of British, Soviet and American security 'plants' at camp; question of electromagnetic waves; reaction of women to arrival of Cruise Missiles, 1983; methods of disrupting Cruise Missile convoys; impact of women protester's disruption of Cruise Missile convoys; arrival of British forces to protect American personnel; inviting media to camp for various actions.
REEL 9 Continues: occasion when women protesters broke into base to dance around missile silos; importance of non-violent action; attitude towards violent animal rights protests 2001; question of violence against women protesters; respect of Berkshire Constabulary had for herself and Sarah Hipperson; opinion of British legal system; financial situation at camp and role as banker; visit to camp by Hilda Morrell and circumstances surrounding her death; actions by Ratepayers Against Greenham Encampment (RAGE) against camp; women protester's support for striking miner's wives; attitude towards 'Peace Now' movement in Northern Ireland.
REEL 10 Continues: visit to Maze Prison, Long Kesh in Northern Ireland; leaving Greenham Common Women's Peace Camp due to medical problems, 1985; replacement of common land issue with feminist issues once Cruise Missiles removed; class backgrounds of women protesters; attitude towards radical feminists/lesbians; support received from her children; visits to camp by son and hostility from radical feminists/lesbians; attempts of Bruce Kent to co-ordinate men and women in anti-nuclear/peace activities; reasons for removal of Cruise Missiles from RAF Greenham Common; attitude towards President George W Bush's proposals for Missile Defence project, 2001; attitude towards possibility of memorial to Greenham Common women protesters.
REEL 11 Continues: opinion of what memorial should represent; attitude towards young women protesters; reasons for not attending end-of-camp ceremonies; visiting the Greenham Common Women's Peace Camp after 1985 as a 'born again Christian' and reaction of women.