Melksham to mark 40th anniversary of legendary Greenham Common Women’s Peace Camp

MELKSHAM will later this month help mark the 40th anniversary of the Greenham Common Women’s Peace Camp, which protested against the storage of nuclear weapons in the UK. 

In 1981, members of Walk for Life on Earth marched from Cardiff to set up a peace camp protesting against the US military storage of nuclear weapons in Britain outside RAF Greenham Common in Berkshire.

En route to Greenham Common, the protesters stayed overnight in Melksham on Monday 31st August 1981, and they were looked after by members of the Melksham Anti-Nuclear Association. 

The local group provided the protesters with food, shelter and entertainment at the Town Hall from legendary folksingers Peggy Seeger and Ewen McColl. 

To mark the anniversary of the march and the Greenham Common Women’s Peace Camp – which was the largest female-led protest since the suffragettes – ‘Greenham Women Everywhere’ are recreating the march, following the original route as closely as possible. After walking 12 miles from Bath, the group will stop in Melksham on the evening of Monday 30th August for a ceremony to thank the town for the support it gave the march in 1981. 

And locals that remember the march coming to town, took part, or want to learn more about it, are being encouraged to attend the ceremony, which will be held in King George V playing field from approximately 6pm to 8pm.  

At the event, the town will be presented with a plaque and a honeysuckle plant, which is commonly found at Greenham Common. There will also be entertainment and a talk about Greenham and its relevance today.  

As the town prepares to host the anniversary celebration, one former Melksham resident and member of the Melksham Anti-Nuclear Association, Nigel Day, has shared his memories of 1981. He said, “Two of our members, a mother and daughter, were in the Walk for Life on Earth from Cardiff to Greenham. And we hosted those marchers overnight in Melksham on their way between Bath and Devizes.  

“The marchers slept in a chapel, which I think is still operating, and in the evening, we fed everyone and Peggy Seeger and Ewan McColl came and sang to all in the Melksham Town Hall.  

“Helen John [one of the founders of the protest camp at Greenham Common] told me a number of times that that was the night they began thinking about staying at Greenham when they got there and turning their protest into a camp to continue their protest.”

Recalling Melksham in her book, ‘Walking to Greenham’, one of the organisers of the original march, Ann Pettitt said, “That evening we stayed in Melksham. The golden evening light stole in upon the quiet stone facades of the old houses around the central square.  

“We had entertainment laid on for us in one of those buildings. In an upstairs room in the town hall, that venerable folk couple Ewen McColl and Peggy Seeger were singing.” 

If you remember the events of Monday 31st August 1981, and would like to share your memories or photos, please email: news@melkshamnews.co.uk 

Picture: Melksham Anti-Nuclear Association’s poster from 1981 about the Women’s March for Disarmament. 

• Greenham Common Women’s Peace Camp was a series of protest camps established to protest against nuclear weapons being placed at RAF Greenham Common in Berkshire. The camp began in September 1981 after a Welsh group, Women for Life on Earth, arrived at Greenham to protest against the decision of the British government to allow cruise missiles to be stored there. After realising that the march alone was not going to get them the attention that they needed to have the missiles removed, women began to camp at Greenham to continue their protest. The camp was active for 19 years and disbanded in 2000 (courtesy of Wikipedia)