scarf | >Re-PHOTO

Burghfield to Aldermarston, Berkshire.

Wool Against Weapons; On Saturday 9th August 2014, the 69th anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bomb on Nagasaki – three days after the nuclear bomb devastated Hiroshima, CND organised a large-scale protest against nuclear weapons, stretching a line of pink knitting seven miles to link the bomb factory at Burghfield with the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) at Aldermaston.

The protest came well ahead of a parliamentary vote expected in 2016 to allow the government to spend over £100 billion on a new nuclear weapons system to replace Trident.

Groups from all over the country (and some in France) had been busy knitting and crocheting lengths of pink scarves and joining these into rolls that could be brought to their designated point on the 7 mile route, unrolled and joined up with others to complete the scarf.

The project brought together a large number of people many who had not previously protested against nuclear weapons but were appalled at the amount of money that would be wasted on a Trident replacement which could be much better spent in other ways – such as keeping the NHS running.

*Extra knitting on the fence of AWE Aldermaston*

I had decided the only sensible way to cover this protest would be on a bicycle, and got up to go with my bike on an early train to Reading, from where I cycled to Burghfield, arriving shortly before 10.30. This gave me two and a half hours before the whole scarf was scheduled to be joined up at 1pm.

*People wait to hear that the scarf is linked*

After photographing at this end of the scarf, I cycled slowly along the route, jumping off my bike to take pictures where people were busy laying out the rolls of scarf and joining them up. Eventually I reached Aldermaston and after taking some pictures there rode quickly back to Burghfield to be there well before the joining was complete at 1pm.

*Waiting for the the signal that the scarf is linked along all 7 miles*

At 1pm protesters held up the now joined 7 mile scarf and rang bells – and I ran almost a mile along it taking photographs. I think it was held up for around 10 minutes before people took it down and began to come to a rally at Burghfield which began a little after 1.30pm.

There was music and poetry and speeches, including from Walter Wolfgang and Kate Hudson. It was still continuing after I left to ride back to Reading and take the train home.

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The seven-mile long scarf was joined up at 1pm

On Saturday 9th August 2014 I took a bike ride outside London, putting my bike on the train to Reading, from where I cycled west to Burghfield and on to Aldermaston. It was Nagasaki Day, remembering August 9th 1945, when the US exploded an atomic bomb at the city of Nagasaki, killing around 80,000 people, and CND were holding an unusual protest, stretching out a seven mile long knitted scarf between the two factories where Britain’s atomic war heads are made. 69 years after the bomb was dropped, the UK government was about to vote on huge spending on a new nuclear weapons system, and CND were calling for Trident and its replacement to be scrapped.

‘Drop Stitches Not Bombs’ at the Burghfield end of the 7-mile scarf

I’d taken my bike, both to get to Burghfield from Reading but also so that I could cycle along the whole seven mile length of the protest and photograph the scarf along the way. A bike was ideal for this, as I could easily cover the whole distance and unlike a car you can jump off anywhere and take pictures. But for the moment when all the lengths of wool were joined up, I jumped off my bike and ran along the first section of the scarf, taking picture after picture.

Here’s some of what I wrote in my 2014 post Wool Against Weapons along with a few of the pictures I took along the road.

”Groups from all over the country and some from France brought long rolled up lengths of knitted and crocheted scarves, made in individual sections and joined together. A lot of planning was needed to make sure that there were enough rolls and they were taken to the right places to be unrolled and joined together, but it all worked on the day.”

One of many banners on the fence around AWE Aldermaston

“The project involved a very large number of people, many of whom had taken no active part in protests against nuclear weapons before, but who are convinced that we should not waste public money on the Trident replacement – money that could be put to something useful like keeping our NHS running.”

“I cycled to Burghfield from Reading, and arrived just over two and a half hours before the whole scarf was scheduled to be joined up at 1pm. After taking some pictures around the end of the scarf there, I got back on my bike and cycled slowly along the route of the scarf to Aldermaston, stopping at all of the ‘mile points’ which were the bases for the various regional groups (and a ‘faith’ group) and also where people were busy laying out the rolls of scarf and joining them up and taking photographs. It took me around an hour and a quarter to get to the Aldermaston end of the scarf at the fence around the AWE there.”

“I made it back to Burghfield – with just a few stops for more pictures – in half an hour. It helped that there is quite a long downhill section and the wind was behind me, but I wanted to be sure to be back well before the planned ‘linking time’ of 1pm.”

At side roads the scarf could be lifted to allow cars through.

“I took pictures at Burghfield of the linking when people rang bells at 1pm, then started running along the scarf, stopping to photograph the people holding it up. After almost a mile I gave up and returned back to Burghfield where a rally was to start at 1.30pm.”

More pictures on My London Diary at Wool Against Weapons.

All photographs on this and my other sites, unless otherwise stated, are taken by and copyright of Peter Marshall, and are available for reproduction or can be bought as prints.