Remembering RAF Greenham Common 25 years on from public opening
Memories of RAF Greenham Common have been shared on the 25th anniversary of the site being opened to the public. The Berkshire airbase became a key hub for the US Air Force and, during the Cold War, the United States used it to host 96 nuclear warheads. This led to more than a decade of protests by the Women's Peace Camp, which continued until RAF Greenham Common was decommissioned in 2000.Since 2014, the land has been managed by the Berks, Bucks and Oxon Wildlife Trust (BBOWT) on behalf of West Berkshire Council.
Thousands of women marched from Cardiff to Greenham in 1981, and then attempted to disrupt construction work between 1981 and 1983, when the first cruise missiles arrived.In 1982, more than 30,000 women gathered to join hands around the base.Protests continued throughout the 1980s. In 1987, US President Ronald Reagan and Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev signed the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty.The last of the Greenham women left the base in September 2000.
Lynette Edwell took part in all of the Women's Peace Camp protests action at the site during the 1980s and 90s."It was a site where I had probably my happiest experiences with other women, and it is still for me a place for terror," she said.She said Greenham was a potential target and the fact the Americans would retaliate offered "no comfort"."At any time those missiles could be discharged and in return we get the SS20s targeting the whole of Newbury," she said."That's something that became very vivid and very real and was my motivation for protest."
The grounds are now home to "a whole host" of wildlife, according to BBOWT chief executive Estelle Bailey, including nightingales, skylarks, and over 30 species of butterfly."It's been incredible, the journey of what we've seen and what we've planned for," she said."You can't always put nature in a box so we let the box go, we let it out. And what's happened to it in terms of the habitats that have been established are really quite incredible."The Liberal Democrat MP for Newbury, Lee Dillon, said Greenham Common was very important to local residents."It's played a massive part in my childhood," he said."And now with my own children, we bring them up here regularly as well, just so we can get out and about and enjoy that access to the open countryside, the fresh air."
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