1 00:00:02,000 --> 00:00:03,240 BIRDSONG 2 00:00:07,440 --> 00:00:09,800 They say don't judge a book by its cover. 3 00:00:09,800 --> 00:00:14,480 And this lot look pretty respectable these days. 4 00:00:14,480 --> 00:00:15,520 But the truth is... 5 00:00:16,880 --> 00:00:20,560 ..this place and these women have one heck of a history. 6 00:00:20,560 --> 00:00:23,320 People like me don't do things like this. 7 00:00:23,320 --> 00:00:25,480 I was a Valleys housewife, for God's sake. 8 00:00:25,480 --> 00:00:27,440 40 years ago, these three Welsh sisters 9 00:00:27,440 --> 00:00:29,880 were making a real ruckus here... 10 00:00:29,880 --> 00:00:32,120 MUSIC: Two Tribes by Frankie Goes to Hollywood 11 00:00:32,120 --> 00:00:36,400 ..hitting headlines around the globe, taking on Reagan, Thatcher 12 00:00:36,400 --> 00:00:38,680 and anyone else who got in their way. 13 00:00:38,680 --> 00:00:41,040 Our nerve is being tested. 14 00:00:41,040 --> 00:00:43,200 We must not falter now. 15 00:00:43,200 --> 00:00:45,600 I'm going to fight. That's what we're all doing. 16 00:00:45,600 --> 00:00:47,240 We're fighting for their lives. 17 00:00:47,240 --> 00:00:50,200 This is the story of the housewives from the Rhondda 18 00:00:50,200 --> 00:00:53,600 who risked it all to change the world. 19 00:01:00,960 --> 00:01:03,560 Early 1980s, the Rhondda. 20 00:01:03,560 --> 00:01:06,400 Bonnie Tyler is giving us a Total Eclipse of the Heart. 21 00:01:06,400 --> 00:01:08,880 # Turn around 22 00:01:08,880 --> 00:01:12,520 # Every now and then I get a little bit lonely 23 00:01:12,520 --> 00:01:14,800 # And you're never coming round.... # 24 00:01:14,800 --> 00:01:18,360 Raiders of the Lost Ark is topping the box office. 25 00:01:18,360 --> 00:01:21,080 And along with millions of others, the Valleys 26 00:01:21,080 --> 00:01:23,360 have gone totally bonkers, 27 00:01:23,360 --> 00:01:27,200 toasting the royal wedding of the century. 28 00:01:27,200 --> 00:01:30,960 The Rhondda Valley celebrated as only the Valleys can - in song. 29 00:01:30,960 --> 00:01:34,200 # I'm getting married in the morning... # 30 00:01:34,200 --> 00:01:38,600 But in the little mining town of Porth, a very different family 31 00:01:38,600 --> 00:01:41,320 was set to make headlines across the country. 32 00:01:41,320 --> 00:01:44,120 One, take one. The Brinkworths. 33 00:01:45,680 --> 00:01:48,440 Everywhere you go, people would know your family, 34 00:01:48,440 --> 00:01:50,880 just cos there were so many of us. 35 00:01:52,280 --> 00:01:55,960 To be from a family of what ended up as eight children at that time, 36 00:01:55,960 --> 00:01:58,760 a lot of people assumed that we were Catholic. 37 00:01:58,760 --> 00:02:00,800 We weren't Catholic. 38 00:02:00,800 --> 00:02:03,240 Famously, "No, we're Welsh Baptist." 39 00:02:03,240 --> 00:02:07,840 Dad Ron was a bus conductor and mum Audrey stayed at home with the kids, 40 00:02:07,840 --> 00:02:10,880 one boy and seven girls. 41 00:02:12,800 --> 00:02:17,320 I'm the oldest, so, you know, it was always my fault. 42 00:02:20,320 --> 00:02:22,200 You're not actually the oldest, though. 43 00:02:22,200 --> 00:02:24,920 No, my brother's older than me. 44 00:02:24,920 --> 00:02:29,120 Me and Susan, very close together, 14 months between us. 45 00:02:30,600 --> 00:02:34,120 We'd fight, we'd get on, we'd look after each other. 46 00:02:34,120 --> 00:02:36,160 We'd fight more. 47 00:02:36,160 --> 00:02:37,680 Then there's me. 48 00:02:40,000 --> 00:02:41,880 I've always been the helper. 49 00:02:41,880 --> 00:02:45,440 Christine and Susan, they're either the best of buddies 50 00:02:45,440 --> 00:02:47,680 or they're not talking to each other. 51 00:02:47,680 --> 00:02:51,760 But Susan's quite sensitive underneath her bossiness! 52 00:02:51,760 --> 00:02:57,560 And Christine has got the sensitivity of a rhino. 53 00:02:57,560 --> 00:03:00,080 What was it like in the Brinkworth house? 54 00:03:00,080 --> 00:03:02,480 Mad. Totally mad. 55 00:03:04,240 --> 00:03:07,480 It seemed to be a centre for people that, you know, 56 00:03:07,480 --> 00:03:09,360 to gravitate to. 57 00:03:10,840 --> 00:03:17,080 On a Saturday afternoon, the street would come into our house. 58 00:03:17,080 --> 00:03:21,680 My mother would just be cooking batch after batch of chips. 59 00:03:21,680 --> 00:03:24,560 Start with the little ones and work up. 60 00:03:25,600 --> 00:03:28,280 But times were changing in 1980s Rhondda. 61 00:03:29,760 --> 00:03:32,360 Margaret Thatcher's Britain was just getting going. 62 00:03:32,360 --> 00:03:34,800 Good afternoon, Prime Minister. 63 00:03:34,800 --> 00:03:37,440 Congratulations. Thank you very much. 64 00:03:37,440 --> 00:03:39,720 Unemployment was rocketing, 65 00:03:39,720 --> 00:03:43,880 and from the heyday of 53 pits the Rhondda was down to just three. 66 00:03:45,480 --> 00:03:49,800 Community spirit was strong as ever, but life was getting tougher. 67 00:03:49,800 --> 00:03:51,400 We didn't have a lot. 68 00:03:52,440 --> 00:03:54,760 But not many people did. 69 00:03:54,760 --> 00:03:57,000 The Valleys were... 70 00:03:58,320 --> 00:03:59,720 ..dying. 71 00:03:59,720 --> 00:04:03,480 We were one of the poorest areas in the country, 72 00:04:03,480 --> 00:04:05,880 but everyone was in the same boat. 73 00:04:05,880 --> 00:04:09,680 So we didn't really realise that we were living in poverty. 74 00:04:09,680 --> 00:04:13,200 As most young women did then, the sisters soon married 75 00:04:13,200 --> 00:04:14,760 and settled down. 76 00:04:15,960 --> 00:04:18,640 Used to have coffee mornings. 77 00:04:18,640 --> 00:04:21,960 It was a busy little life, you know, 78 00:04:21,960 --> 00:04:25,040 just, just a housewife doing housewifey things. 79 00:04:25,040 --> 00:04:27,320 It wasn't long before Sue had a couple of kids. 80 00:04:27,320 --> 00:04:30,440 We were expected, if you became pregnant, 81 00:04:30,440 --> 00:04:34,120 you give up work and you brought up your kids. 82 00:04:34,120 --> 00:04:36,120 I was happy to do that. 83 00:04:36,120 --> 00:04:41,760 But no-one could have imagined what the sisters were going to do next. 84 00:04:41,760 --> 00:04:44,080 The Rhondda is very insular. 85 00:04:44,080 --> 00:04:49,280 So someone well-educated, it would be a man. 86 00:04:50,840 --> 00:04:53,640 We weren't expected to have opinions, we weren't expected 87 00:04:53,640 --> 00:04:58,160 to have brains, we weren't expected to leave the house and do anything. 88 00:04:59,920 --> 00:05:03,400 The moment you and I and all the rest of us have been waiting for. 89 00:05:03,400 --> 00:05:06,240 Did I do it? Did the Poisoned Dwarf do it? 90 00:05:06,240 --> 00:05:07,880 Who knows? 91 00:05:07,880 --> 00:05:11,440 I've got somebody here who really does know. 92 00:05:11,440 --> 00:05:14,320 JR, who did shoot you? 93 00:05:14,320 --> 00:05:17,720 While most people were talking about who shot JR, 94 00:05:17,720 --> 00:05:20,560 the news has started telling us a different story. 95 00:05:21,560 --> 00:05:22,800 OK? 96 00:05:24,760 --> 00:05:28,240 There's a new fear that we might be closer to a nuclear war 97 00:05:28,240 --> 00:05:30,400 than at any time in our history. 98 00:05:30,400 --> 00:05:33,920 A surprise attack by the Soviet Union would be successful 99 00:05:33,920 --> 00:05:35,800 if it were launched. 100 00:05:35,800 --> 00:05:40,280 Things were heating up in the Cold War between Russia and America, 101 00:05:40,280 --> 00:05:43,240 and the threat of a nuclear attack began to feel real. 102 00:05:44,760 --> 00:05:46,040 Good evening. 103 00:05:46,040 --> 00:05:49,440 The bomb isn't likely to drop, certainly not in the near future. 104 00:05:49,440 --> 00:05:52,440 But as long as we remain a likely target for attack, 105 00:05:52,440 --> 00:05:54,440 we must think about the unthinkable. 106 00:05:56,600 --> 00:06:00,000 Most people didn't even think of nuclear weapons, 107 00:06:00,000 --> 00:06:02,800 but it was all playing on around us all. 108 00:06:02,800 --> 00:06:06,600 With Russia investing in ever more powerful nuclear missiles, 109 00:06:06,600 --> 00:06:11,680 Maggie Thatcher was also banking on the bomb to keep Britain safe. 110 00:06:11,680 --> 00:06:14,240 Two world wars have shown us that conventional weapons 111 00:06:14,240 --> 00:06:16,600 are not enough to deter war. 112 00:06:16,600 --> 00:06:20,520 People began worrying how Britain would survive a nuclear attack. 113 00:06:21,760 --> 00:06:26,560 A one megaton bomb exploded 7,000 feet above the House of Commons 114 00:06:26,560 --> 00:06:29,320 would create a fireball over a mile across. 115 00:06:29,320 --> 00:06:31,960 So the government tried to prepare them. 116 00:06:31,960 --> 00:06:33,560 The Protect and Survive, 117 00:06:33,560 --> 00:06:37,160 I was about seven months pregnant when I first seen that. 118 00:06:38,760 --> 00:06:41,320 I remember getting the pamphlet through the door 119 00:06:41,320 --> 00:06:42,880 and I remember the film on TV. 120 00:06:46,040 --> 00:06:48,800 NARRATION: If we are attacked by nuclear weapons, 121 00:06:48,800 --> 00:06:51,680 these are the warning sounds you must recognise. 122 00:06:51,680 --> 00:06:54,960 BELL TOLLS 123 00:06:54,960 --> 00:06:59,160 There was a growing awareness that we were entering 124 00:06:59,160 --> 00:07:02,240 a completely ridiculous phase. 125 00:07:02,240 --> 00:07:04,600 Making a refuge is not difficult. 126 00:07:04,600 --> 00:07:08,560 The government's advice was that, in the case of a nuclear war, 127 00:07:08,560 --> 00:07:13,680 that you leaned four doors up against a wall inside your house. 128 00:07:15,080 --> 00:07:19,280 Hopefully, we'd have a screwdriver to hand, etc, 129 00:07:19,280 --> 00:07:23,040 and you put a water supply in there and a food supply 130 00:07:23,040 --> 00:07:28,280 and you literally lived there for four weeks. You couldn't come out. 131 00:07:29,400 --> 00:07:32,280 We asked a Yorkshire family to build a fallout shelter 132 00:07:32,280 --> 00:07:34,640 following the government-recommended design. 133 00:07:35,840 --> 00:07:42,280 Keep yourself safe by existing under your cushions, really. 134 00:07:42,280 --> 00:07:43,760 Inside. 135 00:07:47,280 --> 00:07:49,320 What do you think conditions will be like in here 136 00:07:49,320 --> 00:07:51,240 after a couple of weeks? 137 00:07:51,240 --> 00:07:53,120 Pretty grim, I would say, 138 00:07:53,120 --> 00:07:55,760 but what can you do? 139 00:07:55,760 --> 00:07:57,480 Madness. 140 00:07:57,480 --> 00:07:59,320 Will you take any preparations at all? 141 00:07:59,320 --> 00:08:01,720 What preparation you got? You've had it, ain't you? 142 00:08:01,720 --> 00:08:02,800 You've had it, ain't you? 143 00:08:02,800 --> 00:08:07,600 I can tell you that I've worked in civil defence for some 25 years. 144 00:08:07,600 --> 00:08:11,120 I mean, good heavens, if this building is in the target area 145 00:08:11,120 --> 00:08:13,800 and it shattered, then the fallout dust 146 00:08:13,800 --> 00:08:15,960 will not be stopped by cushions. 147 00:08:15,960 --> 00:08:20,040 This is the last tin of beans, Trevor. Can you pass that, please? 148 00:08:20,040 --> 00:08:24,360 Here you are. We'll have to share it out. One spoonful each. 149 00:08:25,960 --> 00:08:28,680 This is how real it felt, 150 00:08:28,680 --> 00:08:34,080 that the government was actually telling us what we needed to do. 151 00:08:34,080 --> 00:08:38,280 And the thought of having to do that with a newborn baby, 152 00:08:38,280 --> 00:08:42,000 and just the simple thing about what on earth you're going to do 153 00:08:42,000 --> 00:08:43,600 with the nappies. 154 00:08:44,720 --> 00:08:48,040 Fear of nuclear war grew across the country. 155 00:08:48,040 --> 00:08:51,840 But at first, the Brinkworths pushed it to the back of their minds. 156 00:08:51,840 --> 00:08:55,320 Forced myself to forget about it 157 00:08:55,320 --> 00:09:00,080 until we took the girls up to London Zoo. 158 00:09:00,080 --> 00:09:03,440 There were aeroplanes going overhead. 159 00:09:03,440 --> 00:09:06,640 And Jodie's eyes just got bigger and bigger, 160 00:09:06,640 --> 00:09:09,640 and she was down on her knees with her hands over her head 161 00:09:09,640 --> 00:09:12,480 like that, screaming, "Mummy, they're going to bomb us. 162 00:09:12,480 --> 00:09:13,880 "They're going to bomb us." 163 00:09:13,880 --> 00:09:15,920 LOUD EXPLOSION 164 00:09:15,920 --> 00:09:19,400 We didn't even realise at the time where this fear had come from. 165 00:09:19,400 --> 00:09:21,320 It was terrifying. 166 00:09:21,320 --> 00:09:25,760 The horror of nuclear bombs used against Japan 35 years earlier 167 00:09:25,760 --> 00:09:28,000 started to haunt the sisters. 168 00:09:28,000 --> 00:09:32,080 I've seen photographs of Nagasaki and Hiroshima. 169 00:09:32,080 --> 00:09:34,000 I've seen the burns and things. 170 00:09:34,000 --> 00:09:37,400 You know, that's what would be happening to us all. 171 00:09:39,040 --> 00:09:42,280 To me, it was very personal. Very, very personal. 172 00:09:42,280 --> 00:09:44,880 I was having nightmares. I couldn't sleep. 173 00:09:44,880 --> 00:09:48,240 I didn't, certainly at the beginning, think I had any power 174 00:09:48,240 --> 00:09:50,320 to do anything. 175 00:09:50,320 --> 00:09:54,280 I was just a housewife from the Rhondda Valleys. 176 00:09:54,280 --> 00:09:57,040 I was just a mother who was terrified 177 00:09:57,040 --> 00:10:01,000 at the thought of what could happen to her children. 178 00:10:02,440 --> 00:10:05,840 I got frightened for the children of the world. 179 00:10:13,920 --> 00:10:16,000 A new year in the Rhondda. 180 00:10:16,000 --> 00:10:19,440 The world was welcoming DeLoreans, Star Wars... 181 00:10:19,440 --> 00:10:23,320 I only get Yoda stew, I've never had Star Wars stew before. 182 00:10:23,320 --> 00:10:25,480 ..and a new American president. 183 00:10:25,480 --> 00:10:27,480 # Grandma, we love you... # 184 00:10:27,480 --> 00:10:31,000 At home, the government was also welcoming some new arrivals. 185 00:10:31,000 --> 00:10:33,520 Two sites in England have been named as bases 186 00:10:33,520 --> 00:10:36,160 for American cruise missiles. 187 00:10:36,160 --> 00:10:38,800 The two sites for the missiles are the American Air Force 188 00:10:38,800 --> 00:10:40,320 standby base at Greenham Common 189 00:10:40,320 --> 00:10:41,840 and an American Air Force store 190 00:10:41,840 --> 00:10:44,040 at Molesworth, near Huntingdon. 191 00:10:44,040 --> 00:10:47,760 The first of them would be in position by about the end of 1983. 192 00:10:47,760 --> 00:10:50,560 It would be from here in the Berkshire countryside 193 00:10:50,560 --> 00:10:53,920 that the missiles would be launched in the event of a nuclear war. 194 00:10:53,920 --> 00:10:58,000 At the same time, the area would become a prime enemy target. 195 00:10:58,000 --> 00:11:02,040 The announcement about basing cruise missiles in this country 196 00:11:02,040 --> 00:11:04,400 actually woke us up. 197 00:11:04,400 --> 00:11:07,760 I decided I've just got to do something about this. 198 00:11:07,760 --> 00:11:11,240 On telly, Bucks Fizz were taking on Eurovision. 199 00:11:11,240 --> 00:11:14,520 But it was the bomb that was troubling the sisters. 200 00:11:14,520 --> 00:11:16,120 And they weren't alone. 201 00:11:16,120 --> 00:11:19,240 Anti-nuclear groups were springing up across the Valleys. 202 00:11:19,240 --> 00:11:23,440 There was announced an inaugural meeting of a local CND group. 203 00:11:23,440 --> 00:11:28,800 So me and Christine just decided that we would go to this meeting. 204 00:11:28,800 --> 00:11:32,720 It all started with an idea which came from a group of women 205 00:11:32,720 --> 00:11:34,120 in Mid Wales. 206 00:11:34,120 --> 00:11:37,400 At the meeting, the sisters heard about a group of women 207 00:11:37,400 --> 00:11:41,080 who were leaving their homes in Wales and walking 120 miles 208 00:11:41,080 --> 00:11:44,320 from Cardiff to Greenham Common in Berkshire 209 00:11:44,320 --> 00:11:47,800 to protest against American missiles coming there. 210 00:11:47,800 --> 00:11:50,680 But the media weren't interested. 211 00:11:50,680 --> 00:11:55,200 A group of women had been concerned enough to walk with their children 212 00:11:55,200 --> 00:11:59,480 100 and odd miles to another part of the country... 213 00:12:00,560 --> 00:12:02,600 ..and this wasn't newsworthy. 214 00:12:02,600 --> 00:12:04,880 Well, it was newsworthy to me. 215 00:12:04,880 --> 00:12:08,920 I wanted to know about it, I wanted to be... 216 00:12:09,920 --> 00:12:11,920 ..to do something about it. 217 00:12:11,920 --> 00:12:13,960 The press hadn't told me. 218 00:12:13,960 --> 00:12:18,680 I thought that was outrage... I was really angry about it. 219 00:12:18,680 --> 00:12:23,040 We discovered that the women had been virtually ignored, 220 00:12:23,040 --> 00:12:26,720 so when they got there, a group of them decided to chain themselves 221 00:12:26,720 --> 00:12:32,360 to the fence, asking for a public debate 222 00:12:32,360 --> 00:12:37,400 between the women who were concerned about this and our government. 223 00:12:38,720 --> 00:12:41,200 One of the MoD guys said, 224 00:12:41,200 --> 00:12:44,120 "Ha! Chain yourself up, see if we care. 225 00:12:44,120 --> 00:12:48,000 "You can stay there forever as far as we're concerned." 226 00:12:49,200 --> 00:12:50,960 So they did just that. 227 00:12:50,960 --> 00:12:53,640 They set up a camp outside the base. 228 00:12:53,640 --> 00:12:56,760 What started with four women chained to the railings 229 00:12:56,760 --> 00:13:00,080 became the Greenham Common Women's Peace Camp, 230 00:13:00,080 --> 00:13:03,000 and soon more women were joining them. 231 00:13:03,000 --> 00:13:07,280 To hear that they'd stayed and we weren't even talking about it. 232 00:13:07,280 --> 00:13:11,520 A bottle of wine later and getting really wound up, 233 00:13:11,520 --> 00:13:14,240 and someone saying, "Well, what are you going to do about it?" 234 00:13:14,240 --> 00:13:17,000 And I said, "Right, if the press are not going to do their job, 235 00:13:17,000 --> 00:13:18,360 "we will." 236 00:13:20,200 --> 00:13:24,360 MUSIC: Prince Charming by Adam and the Ants 237 00:13:24,360 --> 00:13:28,520 We'll camp out for a week in the middle of Porth Square. 238 00:13:28,520 --> 00:13:30,480 It was a main thoroughfare 239 00:13:30,480 --> 00:13:33,760 that's as public as we can get in the Rhondda. 240 00:13:33,760 --> 00:13:37,160 # Don't you ever Don't you ever... # 241 00:13:37,160 --> 00:13:39,000 I thought it was going to be embarrassing. 242 00:13:39,000 --> 00:13:42,120 # Stop being dandy Showing me you're handsome... # 243 00:13:42,120 --> 00:13:45,920 I thought it was going to be...uncomfortable. 244 00:13:45,920 --> 00:13:48,200 # Prince Charming, Prince Charming 245 00:13:48,200 --> 00:13:52,440 # Ridicule is nothing to be scared of... # 246 00:13:52,440 --> 00:13:55,080 Cold, because it was November. 247 00:13:55,080 --> 00:13:57,360 Never one to do things by halves, 248 00:13:57,360 --> 00:14:01,240 Chris wanted her sisters and even best pal Lynn, 249 00:14:01,240 --> 00:14:04,800 to spend the whole week chained up to railings in town. 250 00:14:04,800 --> 00:14:10,200 I can remember walking down to Porth Square that morning thinking, 251 00:14:10,200 --> 00:14:14,480 "Do I really believe that nuclear weapons are this bad?" 252 00:14:14,480 --> 00:14:18,120 We're going to be ridiculed. Were we going to be arrested? 253 00:14:18,120 --> 00:14:20,000 It was the thing of... 254 00:14:21,200 --> 00:14:24,160 ..making a fool of yourself in your local community, 255 00:14:24,160 --> 00:14:25,880 where people know you. 256 00:14:25,880 --> 00:14:27,760 I think that was the fear. 257 00:14:27,760 --> 00:14:31,080 Sue's husband wasn't too keen on the idea either. 258 00:14:32,960 --> 00:14:34,560 And did you ever worry, 259 00:14:34,560 --> 00:14:38,000 "What's Allan going to think about me doing this?" 260 00:14:38,000 --> 00:14:39,760 No. 261 00:14:42,120 --> 00:14:45,080 Yeah, well, I don't know. I thought you were a bit crazy. 262 00:14:45,080 --> 00:14:47,600 Yeah. Well, I was. 263 00:14:48,600 --> 00:14:52,160 We found that, in the area, if you ask anybody, "Who are 264 00:14:52,160 --> 00:14:54,560 "the women at Greenham Common?" - they simply don't know. 265 00:14:54,560 --> 00:14:57,200 So we thought we'd just try and bring the demonstration home 266 00:14:57,200 --> 00:14:58,680 to the people of our area. 267 00:14:58,680 --> 00:15:01,880 And if people, other people who support the women, do the same 268 00:15:01,880 --> 00:15:05,880 in their own areas, then of course everybody will get to know about it. 269 00:15:05,880 --> 00:15:09,920 Sure, there were people who thought we were nutters 270 00:15:09,920 --> 00:15:13,080 or even communist agitators. 271 00:15:14,240 --> 00:15:17,920 We had arguments on the streets, but that's why we were there, 272 00:15:17,920 --> 00:15:20,840 was to have these arguments, to try and inform people 273 00:15:20,840 --> 00:15:23,320 through discussion. 274 00:15:23,320 --> 00:15:26,800 When you first heard about your sisters going down to Porth Square 275 00:15:26,800 --> 00:15:31,040 and chaining themselves to the railings, what did you think? 276 00:15:31,040 --> 00:15:36,760 My immediate reaction was, what are they bl... doing? 277 00:15:36,760 --> 00:15:39,440 What, what bloody idiots they are! 278 00:15:39,440 --> 00:15:40,960 Erm... 279 00:15:40,960 --> 00:15:43,400 I just did not see the sense and the logic 280 00:15:43,400 --> 00:15:47,480 because I was never an advocate of that type of action. 281 00:15:47,480 --> 00:15:49,680 Were you afraid of nuclear war? 282 00:15:52,080 --> 00:15:53,720 No. 283 00:15:53,720 --> 00:15:59,000 My view was that, if they have got nuclear weapons, I want bigger ones. 284 00:15:59,000 --> 00:16:02,800 So you must have had some blazing rows about that, then. 285 00:16:02,800 --> 00:16:05,880 I think we had some discussions about it, yes! 286 00:16:05,880 --> 00:16:09,680 Although plenty didn't see eye to eye on the nuclear cause, 287 00:16:09,680 --> 00:16:12,520 Valleys folk look after their own. 288 00:16:12,520 --> 00:16:15,560 You know, we'd gone down, we'd expected to be evicted. 289 00:16:15,560 --> 00:16:19,040 By the end of the night, we had lines of flasks. 290 00:16:19,040 --> 00:16:21,720 We had lines of bottles of whisky. 291 00:16:21,720 --> 00:16:25,720 We had old blokes coming down saying, my wife won't let me sleep 292 00:16:25,720 --> 00:16:28,840 until I've checked you lot are OK. 293 00:16:29,920 --> 00:16:32,240 It was just unbelievable. 294 00:16:32,240 --> 00:16:35,960 People were fantastic to us. 295 00:16:35,960 --> 00:16:39,920 Builder's lorry goes past, sees us there, stops and says, 296 00:16:39,920 --> 00:16:41,280 "What are you lot doing?" 297 00:16:41,280 --> 00:16:45,240 We told them, they unload a hut and give us a hut, 298 00:16:45,240 --> 00:16:48,040 and suddenly we've got a hut to sleep in. 299 00:16:50,040 --> 00:16:52,240 How did you hear about the Brinkworths? 300 00:16:52,240 --> 00:16:57,040 I came across the sisters doing their thing on Porth Square. 301 00:16:58,360 --> 00:17:00,480 I was just 18. 302 00:17:00,480 --> 00:17:02,920 I felt as if I didn't fit a lot of the time. 303 00:17:02,920 --> 00:17:07,240 Everyone else in Porth thought they were a bunch of hippies, 304 00:17:07,240 --> 00:17:08,920 you know, sleeping on the street. 305 00:17:08,920 --> 00:17:12,720 But when you feel, you know, a bit of a weirdo, really, 306 00:17:12,720 --> 00:17:16,000 and you step into another group of weirdos, 307 00:17:16,000 --> 00:17:18,520 it is a little bit of a relief. 308 00:17:29,800 --> 00:17:34,440 I don't think we really expected to spend the whole week there, 309 00:17:34,440 --> 00:17:35,880 but we did. 310 00:17:35,880 --> 00:17:40,400 And the last day we were there, it was pouring down with rain. 311 00:17:40,400 --> 00:17:42,160 It was really hammering. 312 00:17:42,160 --> 00:17:44,320 And I remember lying there thinking, 313 00:17:44,320 --> 00:17:47,200 "Oh, my God, this is the best night of my life." 314 00:17:49,960 --> 00:17:52,360 People are too good to waste. 315 00:17:58,880 --> 00:18:02,520 There's a new year on BBC television. 316 00:18:02,520 --> 00:18:05,760 MUSIC: Don't You Want Me by The Human League 317 00:18:05,760 --> 00:18:08,600 While things were hotting up for the sisters, 318 00:18:08,600 --> 00:18:11,320 the big snow was rolling in over the Rhondda. 319 00:18:11,320 --> 00:18:13,600 TV PRESENTER: Though few parts of Britain have escaped 320 00:18:13,600 --> 00:18:17,040 the snow and ice, Wales has had it particularly bad. 321 00:18:17,040 --> 00:18:20,760 Thankfully, they were back indoors before the big freeze hit. 322 00:18:20,760 --> 00:18:24,160 But 120 miles away at Greenham, 323 00:18:24,160 --> 00:18:27,800 those at the camp had braved months of the cold. 324 00:18:27,800 --> 00:18:31,160 TV COMMENTARY: 25 women have been living on Greenham Common 325 00:18:31,160 --> 00:18:33,440 in Berkshire since September 10th. 326 00:18:33,440 --> 00:18:36,560 They've coped through the long, hard winter with no hot water 327 00:18:36,560 --> 00:18:39,320 or electricity, encouraged by gifts of food 328 00:18:39,320 --> 00:18:41,400 and equipment from supporters. 329 00:18:41,400 --> 00:18:43,800 We're here for very specific reasons - 330 00:18:43,800 --> 00:18:46,080 to make people aware that this space 331 00:18:46,080 --> 00:18:49,080 is preparing to take cruise missiles which will kill every man, 332 00:18:49,080 --> 00:18:51,240 woman and child, possibly, on the planet. 333 00:18:51,240 --> 00:18:54,080 None of the women come from the surrounding area. 334 00:18:54,080 --> 00:18:56,880 I belong to a Japanese Buddhist order. 335 00:18:56,880 --> 00:18:59,440 Greenham's the first place in this country 336 00:18:59,440 --> 00:19:01,160 which will have cruise missiles. 337 00:19:01,160 --> 00:19:04,080 So, obviously, people of this country, 338 00:19:04,080 --> 00:19:07,440 it's very important for us to all gather here. 339 00:19:10,680 --> 00:19:15,120 From only 25 women in January, the women's peace camp was growing. 340 00:19:15,120 --> 00:19:17,960 For the Rhondda girls, it was time for a road trip. 341 00:19:17,960 --> 00:19:21,280 I was, like, four, maybe three hours, crushed into a small car 342 00:19:21,280 --> 00:19:23,840 on the way up to Greenham. 343 00:19:25,560 --> 00:19:29,880 And it was like being dropped in the middle of... 344 00:19:30,920 --> 00:19:32,600 ..another world. 345 00:19:32,600 --> 00:19:35,840 There were people living on the side of the road, right, 346 00:19:35,840 --> 00:19:39,440 under plastic sheets, in caravans. 347 00:19:40,600 --> 00:19:42,520 It was an eclectic mix. 348 00:19:42,520 --> 00:19:45,120 It was a bit of a culture shock. 349 00:19:45,120 --> 00:19:49,640 A Buddhist nun dressed in orange with a shaved head, drumming, 350 00:19:49,640 --> 00:19:52,640 practising witches. I only come across one 351 00:19:52,640 --> 00:19:55,480 and she was from Brighton. 352 00:19:55,480 --> 00:19:58,240 Bridget her name was. She were lovely. 353 00:19:58,240 --> 00:20:03,000 They'd created this big domed structure 354 00:20:03,000 --> 00:20:05,800 made out of rubbish, really. 355 00:20:07,760 --> 00:20:11,920 There was a fire in the centre, and that's where you cooked food. 356 00:20:11,920 --> 00:20:15,040 Some of them are sleeping in cars, some of them are sleeping in tents. 357 00:20:15,040 --> 00:20:17,160 It was somewhat surreal. 358 00:20:17,160 --> 00:20:20,880 Most of the women when we arrived, were very middle-class. 359 00:20:21,960 --> 00:20:24,120 When you come 360 00:20:24,120 --> 00:20:28,880 from an insular Welsh Valley 361 00:20:28,880 --> 00:20:34,560 and meeting people who were very well-educated and very well-spoken, 362 00:20:34,560 --> 00:20:37,440 they all sounded posh to us. 363 00:20:38,720 --> 00:20:40,360 It was intimidating. 364 00:20:40,360 --> 00:20:43,320 You sort of think, "They know what they're talking about, 365 00:20:43,320 --> 00:20:46,320 "they know what they're doing, they know why they're here." 366 00:20:46,320 --> 00:20:51,440 And we seemed parochial, in our own view. 367 00:20:54,040 --> 00:20:56,640 As the weeks went by, there were clear signs 368 00:20:56,640 --> 00:20:58,960 the missiles were on their way. 369 00:20:58,960 --> 00:21:01,640 On the other side of the wire at Greenham Common base, 370 00:21:01,640 --> 00:21:04,920 the build-up for December 1983 continues. 371 00:21:04,920 --> 00:21:08,560 The missiles are due to be delivered at the end of next year, 372 00:21:08,560 --> 00:21:11,960 but the women say they'll never allow that to happen. 373 00:21:11,960 --> 00:21:14,280 We started to go regularly. 374 00:21:14,280 --> 00:21:16,560 It was fantastic! 375 00:21:16,560 --> 00:21:18,800 I remember someone saying to me, "So, what do you do?" 376 00:21:18,800 --> 00:21:20,960 And I said, "Oh, I'm just a housewife." 377 00:21:20,960 --> 00:21:24,160 And this woman said, "You're not JUST a housewife. 378 00:21:24,160 --> 00:21:26,640 "You're not just a housewife. 379 00:21:26,640 --> 00:21:30,240 "You're a homemaker, you're a mother, you're a carer." 380 00:21:32,080 --> 00:21:33,720 And it's, like, jaw-dropping. 381 00:21:35,440 --> 00:21:38,400 Oh, my God, yes, I do do all those things. 382 00:21:40,200 --> 00:21:45,320 It was huge. It...opened up the world. 383 00:21:48,600 --> 00:21:52,160 The first few visits to Greenham were absolutely mind-blowing, 384 00:21:52,160 --> 00:21:55,520 in as much as there were those conversations about your vagina, 385 00:21:55,520 --> 00:21:59,080 you know, or, "Sorry about..." You know, all those kinds of things, 386 00:21:59,080 --> 00:22:00,560 which, you know... 387 00:22:00,560 --> 00:22:03,000 And about you, your sexuality. 388 00:22:04,480 --> 00:22:06,480 The biggest conversation about sexuality was 389 00:22:06,480 --> 00:22:09,320 there didn't NEED to be a conversation about sexuality, right? 390 00:22:09,320 --> 00:22:11,400 Because it was OK. 391 00:22:12,440 --> 00:22:14,800 I was in a relationship with a woman at the time. 392 00:22:16,000 --> 00:22:18,440 I don't actually know how, even within the group 393 00:22:18,440 --> 00:22:21,200 we were travelling with, how...how aware they were. 394 00:22:21,200 --> 00:22:23,560 I didn't know that. 395 00:22:23,560 --> 00:22:25,000 I didn't know. 396 00:22:26,040 --> 00:22:28,200 When you came back to the Valleys, 397 00:22:28,200 --> 00:22:30,360 there was always that element of caution. 398 00:22:32,000 --> 00:22:35,120 At Greenham, there wasn't that heavy burden, you know. 399 00:22:35,120 --> 00:22:36,720 It wasn't my shame. 400 00:22:36,720 --> 00:22:39,480 I was free, I was present, and that was OK. 401 00:22:39,480 --> 00:22:41,480 And that was really quite remarkable. 402 00:22:43,720 --> 00:22:47,000 For the Rhondda sisters, Greenham was becoming a second home. 403 00:22:47,000 --> 00:22:51,520 # Why are there so many songs about rainbows? # 404 00:22:51,520 --> 00:22:54,400 They went every month for days at a time. 405 00:22:54,400 --> 00:22:56,560 Friends, they all thought we were nuts. 406 00:22:56,560 --> 00:22:58,480 They just thought we were crazy. 407 00:23:01,560 --> 00:23:04,080 And what was your husband thinking about all of this? 408 00:23:04,080 --> 00:23:05,560 Oh, he hated it. 409 00:23:05,560 --> 00:23:08,000 I would say we had our ups and downs. 410 00:23:09,240 --> 00:23:12,240 Occasionally, he'd just get fed up of it. 411 00:23:12,240 --> 00:23:14,280 "Isn't it time somebody else was doing this?" 412 00:23:14,280 --> 00:23:16,880 And, you know, "You've got to come back home. 413 00:23:16,880 --> 00:23:18,360 "You've done your bit." 414 00:23:19,600 --> 00:23:22,400 But, um...you know, we hadn't done our bit. 415 00:23:24,360 --> 00:23:26,960 While the Greenham protest was gaining supporters, 416 00:23:26,960 --> 00:23:30,280 a large part of the country was still pro-nuclear. 417 00:23:31,720 --> 00:23:35,040 In a word, we need the bomb to preserve peace. 418 00:23:35,040 --> 00:23:38,040 Which sounds ironic but is nonetheless true. 419 00:23:38,040 --> 00:23:40,840 I think everybody wants to see a reduction in the number of bombs, 420 00:23:40,840 --> 00:23:43,000 but the reduction has to start in the right place. 421 00:23:43,000 --> 00:23:45,080 And the right place is Russia at the moment. 422 00:23:45,080 --> 00:23:47,920 You know, we tried disarming before the Second World War 423 00:23:47,920 --> 00:23:49,160 and it just didn't work. 424 00:23:49,160 --> 00:23:52,600 It was these views the Greenham women wanted to change, 425 00:23:52,600 --> 00:23:55,600 but their PR was proving a problem. 426 00:23:55,600 --> 00:23:59,280 # But I was born a great big woman 427 00:23:59,280 --> 00:24:03,760 # And you just can't take my dreams away 428 00:24:03,760 --> 00:24:05,360 # Well, we ain't got... # 429 00:24:05,360 --> 00:24:08,480 What was the common perception of Greenham women at the time? 430 00:24:08,480 --> 00:24:10,840 We would joke about the Greenham Common women 431 00:24:10,840 --> 00:24:12,520 like everybody else seemed to. 432 00:24:12,520 --> 00:24:15,720 "This is what happened when Woodstock closed, 433 00:24:15,720 --> 00:24:19,160 "this is where they all went. This is what happened to hippies." 434 00:24:19,160 --> 00:24:21,760 They were blamed for everything. 435 00:24:21,760 --> 00:24:24,120 They were blamed for lowering house prices, 436 00:24:24,120 --> 00:24:26,680 to...to shoplifting. 437 00:24:26,680 --> 00:24:30,360 And I actually witnessed that abuse in the local town, in Newbury. 438 00:24:30,360 --> 00:24:33,880 And you heard stories of farmers driving past 439 00:24:33,880 --> 00:24:36,360 with the slurry vehicles and spraying them. 440 00:24:36,360 --> 00:24:39,920 "They're just communists. They're planted there by the Russians..." 441 00:24:39,920 --> 00:24:41,960 With hundreds of women now at Greenham, 442 00:24:41,960 --> 00:24:43,680 the press couldn't ignore them. 443 00:24:43,680 --> 00:24:47,920 But the media seemed more interested in the spectacle than the cause. 444 00:24:49,400 --> 00:24:51,240 Auberon Waugh. 445 00:24:49,400 --> 00:24:51,240 APPLAUSE 446 00:24:55,920 --> 00:24:59,440 Auberon, er...the area in which you live... 447 00:24:59,440 --> 00:25:02,080 ..as I said, the controversial journalist, um... 448 00:25:03,160 --> 00:25:05,680 ..it's not too far from Greenham Common, is it? 449 00:25:05,680 --> 00:25:07,880 Are you associating yourself with the groundwork 450 00:25:07,880 --> 00:25:09,480 that's being done there at the moment? 451 00:25:09,480 --> 00:25:11,000 I don't think they'd have me. 452 00:25:11,000 --> 00:25:13,880 I thought of putting on a skirt and going along there 453 00:25:13,880 --> 00:25:17,400 and hoping they'd embrace me as a sister and I could join all the fun. 454 00:25:17,400 --> 00:25:21,600 I don't like these sort of hard-voiced, er...slit-eyed, 455 00:25:21,600 --> 00:25:23,880 jargon-shouting freaks 456 00:25:23,880 --> 00:25:25,920 who are growing out of the women's movement. 457 00:25:25,920 --> 00:25:27,360 They're escaping from sex 458 00:25:27,360 --> 00:25:29,760 or escaping from male company or something. 459 00:25:29,760 --> 00:25:34,000 The Welsh women were determined to be taken seriously. 460 00:25:34,000 --> 00:25:37,760 We had written letters, signed petitions, 461 00:25:37,760 --> 00:25:41,000 done the marching, done the demonstrating. 462 00:25:41,000 --> 00:25:44,760 All the time, we were trivialised. 463 00:25:46,280 --> 00:25:47,840 They were a novelty act. 464 00:25:47,840 --> 00:25:49,760 When you moved to the area, you'd get, 465 00:25:49,760 --> 00:25:51,960 "You've got to go and see the Greenham Common women." 466 00:25:51,960 --> 00:25:53,880 It was like you was going to the zoo. 467 00:25:53,880 --> 00:25:56,280 "Oh, look at these funny women," you know. 468 00:25:56,280 --> 00:26:00,760 But nobody really wanted to hear what they were there for. 469 00:26:03,120 --> 00:26:05,160 We weren't there to camp, 470 00:26:05,160 --> 00:26:07,760 we were there to make a point. 471 00:26:07,760 --> 00:26:10,920 Which was, we didn't want the cruise missiles inside that base. 472 00:26:10,920 --> 00:26:12,520 Polite and lawful protest 473 00:26:12,520 --> 00:26:15,400 wasn't getting them the attention they needed, 474 00:26:15,400 --> 00:26:19,480 so the Rhondda women decided it was time to shift things up a gear. 475 00:26:21,120 --> 00:26:24,160 So it was about how could we, you know, raise the bar here? 476 00:26:24,160 --> 00:26:28,280 We decided we were going to have to go into the base. 477 00:26:28,280 --> 00:26:33,000 Me and my sisters and our friends came up with the idea. 478 00:26:33,000 --> 00:26:37,760 And the obvious thing was the main gate, the police sentry box. 479 00:26:40,160 --> 00:26:44,240 We thought it was a mad idea, but...but what could we do? 480 00:26:44,240 --> 00:26:47,000 Invading the base was a serious criminal act, 481 00:26:47,000 --> 00:26:51,000 but a sure-fire way to raise the profile of the peace camp. 482 00:26:51,000 --> 00:26:55,640 The purpose of going into the sentry box was to get arrested 483 00:26:55,640 --> 00:27:01,840 and to be able to, in court, discuss those weapons. 484 00:27:03,080 --> 00:27:05,240 Could have gone to prison for ten years. 485 00:27:10,000 --> 00:27:12,080 People like me don't do things like this. 486 00:27:12,080 --> 00:27:14,320 I was a Valleys housewife, for God's sake. 487 00:27:14,320 --> 00:27:17,440 I didn't get arrested, I didn't go to prison. 488 00:27:17,440 --> 00:27:19,800 I-I-I didn't do stuff like that. 489 00:27:19,800 --> 00:27:21,120 It was scary. 490 00:27:21,120 --> 00:27:22,720 Christine was pregnant at the time 491 00:27:22,720 --> 00:27:25,600 and we tied a note around her neck saying, 492 00:27:25,600 --> 00:27:28,840 "Pregnant. Handle with care." 493 00:27:28,840 --> 00:27:31,320 I was on high alert and I was pretty paranoid, 494 00:27:31,320 --> 00:27:35,360 but they were planning on fighting a nuclear war 495 00:27:35,360 --> 00:27:40,640 and, if we allowed that, then my child wouldn't have a future. 496 00:27:42,920 --> 00:27:44,920 I mean, your body shakes, right? You know? 497 00:27:44,920 --> 00:27:47,200 Um...you know, you have that absolute anxiety 498 00:27:47,200 --> 00:27:49,400 doing something, you know, illegal. 499 00:27:50,680 --> 00:27:52,840 It was just a case of they're opening the gates 500 00:27:52,840 --> 00:27:58,160 for a vehicle to go in and we just all rushed in behind it. 501 00:27:58,160 --> 00:28:01,560 As we were getting closer, they realised we were coming. 502 00:28:01,560 --> 00:28:05,800 A policeman put his arms out to stop us, we went around him. 503 00:28:05,800 --> 00:28:09,000 And then we went into the sentry box. 504 00:28:10,600 --> 00:28:13,720 Initially, they rushed at the box, 505 00:28:13,720 --> 00:28:15,320 and that was scary. 506 00:28:17,480 --> 00:28:21,200 They tried to come in the windows, but we shut the windows. 507 00:28:21,200 --> 00:28:25,640 Then we shut the door and blocked it with a table. 508 00:28:25,640 --> 00:28:28,080 There was nothing thought out 509 00:28:28,080 --> 00:28:32,680 as far as, you know, what we were going to do when we got in there. 510 00:28:32,680 --> 00:28:36,440 And we all started to sing. 511 00:28:36,440 --> 00:28:40,400 Because it was a matter of, "If in doubt, sing." 512 00:28:40,400 --> 00:28:44,200 I remember somebody phoned the box 513 00:28:44,200 --> 00:28:48,200 and a friend of mine answered and said... 514 00:28:48,200 --> 00:28:51,360 Good morning. Greenham Common Women's Peace Camp. 515 00:28:51,360 --> 00:28:55,880 And an American voice at the other side of the phone answers... 516 00:28:55,880 --> 00:28:58,880 "Oh. Have you all got a telephone now?" 517 00:28:58,880 --> 00:29:02,520 And we said, "Yes, we have, cos we've extended." 518 00:29:02,520 --> 00:29:05,240 We were hysterical with laughter. 519 00:29:05,240 --> 00:29:07,520 It was partly our nerves, you know, at the... 520 00:29:07,520 --> 00:29:10,280 And the release of tension. 521 00:29:10,280 --> 00:29:13,240 But it was...it was like a farce. 522 00:29:13,240 --> 00:29:18,160 We knew it wouldn't be long before they'd be coming for us. 523 00:29:20,160 --> 00:29:22,600 And then we were all carried out one by one. 524 00:29:22,600 --> 00:29:24,600 Their plan had worked. 525 00:29:24,600 --> 00:29:26,880 They'd wanted to put Greenham on the map, 526 00:29:26,880 --> 00:29:29,560 and soon the news crews came calling. 527 00:29:29,560 --> 00:29:34,040 A group of women occupied the guard post inside the camp perimeter. 528 00:29:34,040 --> 00:29:36,080 They were charged with behaviour 529 00:29:36,080 --> 00:29:38,360 likely to cause a breach of the peace. 530 00:29:38,360 --> 00:29:42,320 This week, their case was heard before Newbury Magistrates. 531 00:29:42,320 --> 00:29:43,920 The court became a focal point 532 00:29:43,920 --> 00:29:46,240 for the campaign for nuclear disarmament. 533 00:29:46,240 --> 00:29:48,640 I didn't really appreciate the enormity of it 534 00:29:48,640 --> 00:29:52,480 until we were booked in in, um...in Newbury nick. 535 00:29:52,480 --> 00:29:56,000 My parents knew where I was going, you know, um... 536 00:29:56,000 --> 00:29:59,360 They were just bitterly disappointed. 537 00:29:59,360 --> 00:30:01,400 And my dad was a policeman. 538 00:30:01,400 --> 00:30:02,840 People did look up to him more 539 00:30:02,840 --> 00:30:05,360 and expect us maybe to behave in a certain way. 540 00:30:05,360 --> 00:30:07,960 You know, you don't want your daughter of 18 541 00:30:07,960 --> 00:30:11,160 to be in a police cell. It's not a great outcome, is it? 542 00:30:12,200 --> 00:30:15,200 Tell me how you became involved with the Welsh women 543 00:30:15,200 --> 00:30:17,520 at Greenham Common Peace Camp. 544 00:30:17,520 --> 00:30:21,160 I got a phone call to say some women at the peace camp at Greenham 545 00:30:21,160 --> 00:30:25,200 had been arrested, and asked if I would represent them. 546 00:30:26,800 --> 00:30:29,240 There were cameras everywhere. 547 00:30:29,240 --> 00:30:33,600 And, you know, Greenham women jumping around and singing. 548 00:30:33,600 --> 00:30:36,560 It was just pretty chaotic, really. 549 00:30:36,560 --> 00:30:38,400 FAINT SINGING 550 00:30:45,480 --> 00:30:46,960 You had to be in that courtroom 551 00:30:46,960 --> 00:30:49,360 and to feel the power of what was going on. 552 00:30:50,520 --> 00:30:52,080 And women giving their testimony 553 00:30:52,080 --> 00:30:54,200 about what had brought them to this point. 554 00:30:55,440 --> 00:30:57,200 Much of it was very emotional. 555 00:30:57,200 --> 00:31:01,680 And they were frightened for their families, for their kids. 556 00:31:01,680 --> 00:31:03,680 I felt proud that they were doing it, 557 00:31:03,680 --> 00:31:05,880 because that's what they believed in, 558 00:31:05,880 --> 00:31:09,360 but the other side saying, "What a waste of time." 559 00:31:09,360 --> 00:31:14,640 Doing acts like this doesn't get the message across to Joe Public. 560 00:31:14,640 --> 00:31:17,720 And would you have said you were Joe Public? 561 00:31:17,720 --> 00:31:19,880 I think I was at the time. 562 00:31:19,880 --> 00:31:23,800 I think I was very much middle of the road. 563 00:31:23,800 --> 00:31:27,880 What was so shocking is that I, for the first time ever, I had clients 564 00:31:27,880 --> 00:31:30,360 who were fully prepared to go to prison. 565 00:31:30,360 --> 00:31:32,320 They never budged on that. 566 00:31:34,040 --> 00:31:36,080 They were not going to be silenced. 567 00:31:36,080 --> 00:31:38,280 I remember standing up in court, 568 00:31:38,280 --> 00:31:44,200 and he wanted me to accept a bind over, and I said no. 569 00:31:44,200 --> 00:31:49,400 Bind over is an agreement between the defendant and the court 570 00:31:49,400 --> 00:31:53,560 that the defendant will keep the peace for a fixed period of time, 571 00:31:53,560 --> 00:31:55,760 and if not will pay a fixed penalty. 572 00:31:55,760 --> 00:31:58,320 Could have walked away and that would have been the end of it. 573 00:31:58,320 --> 00:32:01,080 But that would have meant we were saying we wouldn't do it again. 574 00:32:01,080 --> 00:32:03,600 None of us were saying that. 575 00:32:03,600 --> 00:32:07,240 Actually, the magistrates were aghast when the women said, 576 00:32:07,240 --> 00:32:10,480 "No, we're not going to do that." 577 00:32:10,480 --> 00:32:13,200 And they didn't want to do what came next. 578 00:32:13,200 --> 00:32:16,040 23 women, ten from Wales, 579 00:32:16,040 --> 00:32:18,960 were sentenced to 14 days in jail. 580 00:32:18,960 --> 00:32:20,440 One was pregnant. 581 00:32:20,440 --> 00:32:23,320 Their parents were in court to support them. 582 00:32:23,320 --> 00:32:25,400 These housewives from the Rhondda 583 00:32:25,400 --> 00:32:27,680 had won their way into the headlines. 584 00:32:27,680 --> 00:32:29,680 But it came at a heck of a price, 585 00:32:29,680 --> 00:32:34,080 when they were sentenced to 14 days in jail for breach of the peace. 586 00:32:34,080 --> 00:32:39,720 I remember being in the police van outside Newbury nick 587 00:32:39,720 --> 00:32:42,960 and for the first time feeling Bethan moving in my stomach. 588 00:32:42,960 --> 00:32:46,200 And...And being distraught, 589 00:32:46,200 --> 00:32:48,960 of thinking, "What am I going to teach this child? 590 00:32:48,960 --> 00:32:51,240 "Am I going to teach her to stand up for herself 591 00:32:51,240 --> 00:32:52,640 "and get treated like this?" 592 00:32:52,640 --> 00:32:57,920 I remember being taken down into the cells and thinking, 593 00:32:57,920 --> 00:33:00,480 "Oh, my God, what are we doing?!" 594 00:33:02,760 --> 00:33:06,160 I felt vulnerable, but I was also angry. 595 00:33:06,160 --> 00:33:11,240 Because...locking up British housewives for protesting?! 596 00:33:11,240 --> 00:33:14,480 I mean, how outrageous is that?! 597 00:33:16,440 --> 00:33:18,600 The journey from Newbury Magistrates' Court 598 00:33:18,600 --> 00:33:21,440 to the...to the, um...to the prison, 599 00:33:21,440 --> 00:33:26,200 was the first time I was actually able to gather myself, really. 600 00:33:26,200 --> 00:33:29,200 You go through this kind of processing stuff, 601 00:33:29,200 --> 00:33:31,600 where you are, you know, stripped off, 602 00:33:31,600 --> 00:33:33,960 all your belongings are taken. 603 00:33:33,960 --> 00:33:35,760 I was really scared. 604 00:33:35,760 --> 00:33:38,680 I thought, "Oh, my God, I'm going to meet criminals." 605 00:33:38,680 --> 00:33:41,200 We ended up in their lockup cells. 606 00:33:41,200 --> 00:33:44,160 They'd allow us out of our cells one hour a day. 607 00:33:44,160 --> 00:33:47,080 It felt very dark, you know. Um...I hated it. 608 00:33:47,080 --> 00:33:49,040 I absolutely hated it. 609 00:33:49,040 --> 00:33:53,120 Back home in Porth, the Brinkworth family were reeling. 610 00:33:54,360 --> 00:33:59,320 My main concern was not for them, it was my mother. 611 00:33:59,320 --> 00:34:03,160 How she was going to react. How was it going to affect her? 612 00:34:03,160 --> 00:34:04,800 And with the sisters locked up, 613 00:34:04,800 --> 00:34:08,280 the press turned their attention to the rest of the family. 614 00:34:08,280 --> 00:34:10,880 Reporters descended on the Rhondda. 615 00:34:10,880 --> 00:34:14,600 Audrey and Ron Brinkworth are the grandparents of six children, 616 00:34:14,600 --> 00:34:18,160 and parents of the Welsh women from Porth now in prison. 617 00:34:19,560 --> 00:34:22,560 My mother was so angry. 618 00:34:22,560 --> 00:34:26,400 She brought us up to believe in British justice, 619 00:34:26,400 --> 00:34:29,640 and she was so devastated 620 00:34:29,640 --> 00:34:34,520 that her daughters were sent down for political protest. 621 00:34:34,520 --> 00:34:35,760 Very proud. 622 00:34:35,760 --> 00:34:38,320 Proud? Yes. Can you tell me why? 623 00:34:38,320 --> 00:34:41,440 Because they're doing something they really believe in. 624 00:34:41,440 --> 00:34:43,480 They're doing it for their lives, 625 00:34:43,480 --> 00:34:47,520 and they hope other people will join and fight for their own lives. 626 00:34:47,520 --> 00:34:49,280 But they're not doing it for glory, 627 00:34:49,280 --> 00:34:52,840 they are doing it because they want to survive. 628 00:34:52,840 --> 00:34:56,000 She was really angry, but she was so proud of us. 629 00:35:13,520 --> 00:35:17,080 Next, the press homed in on the men left behind with the kids. 630 00:35:17,080 --> 00:35:19,760 MUSIC: Only You by Yazoo 631 00:35:19,760 --> 00:35:22,920 The husbands of the imprisoned women have formed a kind of co-operative 632 00:35:22,920 --> 00:35:26,240 to help with the children and share out the housework. 633 00:35:26,240 --> 00:35:28,920 Alan Lamb, a student, and Peter Fortte, a lagger, 634 00:35:28,920 --> 00:35:32,080 the husbands of two of the women from Porth now in prison, 635 00:35:32,080 --> 00:35:33,840 collect five of the older children 636 00:35:33,840 --> 00:35:35,840 from the local Welsh-speaking school. 637 00:35:36,880 --> 00:35:40,960 The publicity that was being garnered by Susan 638 00:35:40,960 --> 00:35:44,240 was kind of actually coming my way, as well, like, you know. 639 00:35:44,240 --> 00:35:47,480 I mean, there was quite a lot of it. 640 00:35:47,480 --> 00:35:51,320 It did eventually become...difficult. 641 00:35:51,320 --> 00:35:53,400 It did become difficult in the end. 642 00:35:53,400 --> 00:35:56,800 He was having to stay at home and pick up the pieces. 643 00:35:56,800 --> 00:35:59,880 So if something was going on with the kids or something, 644 00:35:59,880 --> 00:36:01,640 then he'd have to deal with it. 645 00:36:01,640 --> 00:36:05,600 What was your view of the nature of the sentences? 646 00:36:07,080 --> 00:36:08,760 Um... Ahem. 647 00:36:08,760 --> 00:36:11,880 I thought the sentence was, er...very harsh indeed. 648 00:36:11,880 --> 00:36:16,600 Er...the original act that they were charged under 649 00:36:16,600 --> 00:36:20,960 was a 1361 Breach of the Peace Act, 650 00:36:20,960 --> 00:36:23,880 er...which is incredibly vague. 651 00:36:23,880 --> 00:36:26,280 They were sent to prison for two weeks, 652 00:36:26,280 --> 00:36:28,720 which is quite incredible, in my opinion. 653 00:36:28,720 --> 00:36:32,760 I was doing one thing, Susan was doing another thing. 654 00:36:32,760 --> 00:36:36,840 I felt that, er...I should have that time... 655 00:36:36,840 --> 00:36:38,960 Phew! How's that? That's all right. 656 00:36:38,960 --> 00:36:41,240 You've got blackcurrant on your chops. 657 00:36:41,240 --> 00:36:43,320 VOICE-OVER: ..and it wasn't being given to me. 658 00:36:43,320 --> 00:36:45,800 You know, there was this separation, wasn't there? 659 00:36:45,800 --> 00:36:49,200 You know, I think I was pretty kind of supportive 660 00:36:49,200 --> 00:36:51,440 about the whole nuclear thing, 661 00:36:51,440 --> 00:36:53,360 but it didn't half go on a long time. 662 00:36:53,360 --> 00:36:54,640 SUSAN LAUGHS 663 00:36:54,640 --> 00:36:57,920 I was just going to say, I'm pleased that he allowed me to do it. 664 00:36:57,920 --> 00:37:00,560 He didn't "allow" me to do it, 665 00:37:00,560 --> 00:37:03,040 but he facilitated it. 666 00:37:03,040 --> 00:37:05,640 # And all I ever knew 667 00:37:05,640 --> 00:37:07,440 # Only you. # 668 00:37:07,440 --> 00:37:09,680 The sisters kept hitting the headlines 669 00:37:09,680 --> 00:37:13,160 as reporters followed their story behind bars. 670 00:37:13,160 --> 00:37:16,200 They set us to work scrubbing floors. 671 00:37:16,200 --> 00:37:19,400 Hands and knees, scrubbing brush, carbolic soap. 672 00:37:19,400 --> 00:37:23,480 Um...97p a week you'd have for that. 673 00:37:23,480 --> 00:37:26,000 And then we decided we weren't going to, um... 674 00:37:26,000 --> 00:37:28,880 ..perpetuate the smooth running of the...of the prison, 675 00:37:28,880 --> 00:37:31,160 so we refused to work. 676 00:37:31,160 --> 00:37:33,360 So I said, "Right, I'm not working, then." 677 00:37:33,360 --> 00:37:34,960 It was announced today that 678 00:37:34,960 --> 00:37:37,680 prisoners who were being held in an open prison 679 00:37:37,680 --> 00:37:39,720 have been moved to closed jails 680 00:37:39,720 --> 00:37:43,320 because of their "upsetting influence" on other inmates. 681 00:37:43,320 --> 00:37:46,280 The Home Office say they were having an unsettling effect 682 00:37:46,280 --> 00:37:47,880 on the regime at Drake Hall, 683 00:37:47,880 --> 00:37:50,560 so they lost the freedom to mix with other prisoners. 684 00:37:51,600 --> 00:37:53,760 I think because we'd become disruptive, 685 00:37:53,760 --> 00:37:57,320 um...in the prison, we were all kind of separated. 686 00:37:57,320 --> 00:38:01,280 And so, Lesley and myself were then sent to Styal Prison 687 00:38:01,280 --> 00:38:04,600 for the last few days of, um...of our sentence. 688 00:38:04,600 --> 00:38:08,120 After 14 days at Her Majesty's pleasure, 689 00:38:08,120 --> 00:38:10,840 the girls were free to fight another day. 690 00:38:12,480 --> 00:38:14,200 As the prison bus brought them to the gates 691 00:38:14,200 --> 00:38:16,040 and a reunion with friends and supporters, 692 00:38:16,040 --> 00:38:19,440 there was no hiding the delighted relief of the Greenham Common women. 693 00:38:19,440 --> 00:38:22,360 There were three sisters and three mothers of young children 694 00:38:22,360 --> 00:38:23,960 among the freed women. 695 00:38:26,840 --> 00:38:28,400 We were all paranoid. 696 00:38:28,400 --> 00:38:31,800 Cos we were paranoid that we'd be stopped and taken back. 697 00:38:31,800 --> 00:38:34,600 Then, spontaneously linking arms, 698 00:38:34,600 --> 00:38:37,080 the women began a medley of antinuclear songs. 699 00:38:37,080 --> 00:38:38,680 A musical thank you to the friends 700 00:38:38,680 --> 00:38:40,680 who'd travelled to this outlying prison 701 00:38:40,680 --> 00:38:42,960 to welcome them back to the campaign. 702 00:38:42,960 --> 00:38:44,440 # They said it would be 703 00:38:44,440 --> 00:38:47,600 # They said that the bombs were only keeping us free 704 00:38:47,600 --> 00:38:50,680 # Now they're under ground and they don't have to see 705 00:38:50,680 --> 00:38:53,720 # The eyes of the dying... # 706 00:38:54,720 --> 00:38:59,160 As uncomfortable as I found it, it was worth doing it. 707 00:39:00,440 --> 00:39:04,400 It advertised Greenham and that's what we were about. 708 00:39:04,400 --> 00:39:07,520 It had a huge impact. It really galvanised. 709 00:39:07,520 --> 00:39:10,720 There was there is nobody left who hadn't heard about Greenham now. 710 00:39:10,720 --> 00:39:13,280 The whole country saw what was happening. 711 00:39:13,280 --> 00:39:18,880 And some women had the wit to remember to announce 712 00:39:18,880 --> 00:39:21,840 that there was going to be an action very shortly, 713 00:39:21,840 --> 00:39:24,040 on Sunday 12th December. 714 00:39:26,440 --> 00:39:28,040 13 days before Christmas, 715 00:39:28,040 --> 00:39:31,600 we were settling down to watch Rick and Vyv causing mayhem. 716 00:39:31,600 --> 00:39:35,560 But turning over to the news, we saw just how much chaos 717 00:39:35,560 --> 00:39:38,040 the Rhondda girls had caused. 718 00:39:38,040 --> 00:39:41,320 Now on BBC One, the news with Jan Leeming. 719 00:39:41,320 --> 00:39:44,680 Thousands of women surround the American airbase at Greenham Common 720 00:39:44,680 --> 00:39:46,240 in a peaceful protest against 721 00:39:46,240 --> 00:39:48,960 the siting of American cruise missiles in Britain. 722 00:39:50,200 --> 00:39:53,840 The sisters from Porth had wanted to put the spotlight on Greenham, 723 00:39:53,840 --> 00:39:56,640 but even they couldn't have imagined what came next. 724 00:39:56,640 --> 00:39:59,040 Despite the rain and the bitter cold, 725 00:39:59,040 --> 00:40:03,280 they arrived in their thousands, by coach, by car and even on foot. 726 00:40:03,280 --> 00:40:05,440 You knew there was something different about this 727 00:40:05,440 --> 00:40:08,320 because as you drove up, you know, there were coaches of, you know, 728 00:40:08,320 --> 00:40:10,640 people on their way to Greenham. 729 00:40:10,640 --> 00:40:12,200 It was just like, "Wow! OK." 730 00:40:12,200 --> 00:40:14,400 SHE LAUGHS 731 00:40:14,400 --> 00:40:16,680 Longer queue for the loo! 732 00:40:18,320 --> 00:40:23,480 In a single day, 30,000 women joined the first mass Greenham protest. 733 00:40:23,480 --> 00:40:26,760 They then linked hands to create a massive human ring 734 00:40:26,760 --> 00:40:29,720 around the nine-mile perimeter of Greenham. 735 00:40:31,080 --> 00:40:32,640 Tears. 736 00:40:34,360 --> 00:40:36,000 Very emotional. 737 00:40:37,600 --> 00:40:39,120 Because we'd succeeded. 738 00:40:40,840 --> 00:40:43,720 Cos we'd...we'd made it, we'd made it happen. 739 00:40:43,720 --> 00:40:45,920 We'd got the information out. 740 00:40:45,920 --> 00:40:49,320 Right from Porth Square, that had been our issue - 741 00:40:49,320 --> 00:40:51,680 this information is not getting out. 742 00:40:51,680 --> 00:40:53,200 This is not being answered. 743 00:40:53,200 --> 00:40:56,880 We need to get this...people thinking about this. 744 00:40:58,400 --> 00:40:59,880 So you'd finally been heard. 745 00:40:59,880 --> 00:41:01,400 We'd been heard, yeah. 746 00:41:07,200 --> 00:41:10,480 It was unbelievable. The scale was just unbelievable. 747 00:41:11,680 --> 00:41:13,680 The women came from all over the country, 748 00:41:13,680 --> 00:41:15,160 and from the continent, too. 749 00:41:15,160 --> 00:41:18,080 Their aim was to stress as powerfully as possible 750 00:41:18,080 --> 00:41:21,080 that, in their view, the cruise missile is not a deterrent, 751 00:41:21,080 --> 00:41:22,400 it's a weapon of death. 752 00:41:23,680 --> 00:41:25,600 That's why they all brought symbols of life, 753 00:41:25,600 --> 00:41:27,520 like family photographs and baby clothes, 754 00:41:27,520 --> 00:41:30,200 which they attached to the fence. 755 00:41:30,200 --> 00:41:32,360 There were children's booties, 756 00:41:32,360 --> 00:41:35,280 there were pictures of families. 757 00:41:35,280 --> 00:41:38,560 All around the camp, the whole fence 758 00:41:38,560 --> 00:41:42,440 was...was decorated by life, 759 00:41:42,440 --> 00:41:47,240 in the face of what was going on in that camp, which was death. 760 00:41:49,560 --> 00:41:51,840 If the government hopes that it will be re-elected, 761 00:41:51,840 --> 00:41:55,160 well, the government must take note of the people of the country 762 00:41:55,160 --> 00:41:56,240 and what they feel. 763 00:41:56,240 --> 00:42:00,520 And there are enough people here, I hope, to make them think again 764 00:42:00,520 --> 00:42:03,000 about the siting of cruise missiles. 765 00:42:03,000 --> 00:42:05,520 Two weeks ago, I heard I was going to be a grandmother 766 00:42:05,520 --> 00:42:08,640 for the first time, and I want this child to be born and to grow up. 767 00:42:16,280 --> 00:42:19,360 Embrace the Base happened, and suddenly everybody was like, 768 00:42:19,360 --> 00:42:21,600 you know, wanting to do something. 769 00:42:21,600 --> 00:42:24,280 So the profile of Greenham was really incredibly high. 770 00:42:25,480 --> 00:42:29,400 We weren't just a crazy bunch of women running around, you know, 771 00:42:29,400 --> 00:42:31,200 throwing ourselves on things, 772 00:42:31,200 --> 00:42:34,200 but, you know, there were thousands of people, you know, 773 00:42:34,200 --> 00:42:38,880 from all over the UK, coming then to, um...to have their say. 774 00:42:38,880 --> 00:42:41,960 # What we are saying 775 00:42:41,960 --> 00:42:46,000 # Is give peace a chance... # 776 00:42:46,000 --> 00:42:49,360 But locally, the women were short on support. 777 00:42:51,120 --> 00:42:53,440 Residents of Greenham Common in Berkshire, 778 00:42:53,440 --> 00:42:56,520 where 30,000 women staged their peace rally last weekend, 779 00:42:56,520 --> 00:42:58,640 have spent the day helping to clear up 780 00:42:58,640 --> 00:43:00,600 tonnes of rubbish they left behind. 781 00:43:00,600 --> 00:43:04,560 People just telephoned and feel so disgusted 782 00:43:04,560 --> 00:43:06,560 about what went on last weekend. 783 00:43:06,560 --> 00:43:09,640 I think people tend to forget that, or perhaps even demonstrators do, 784 00:43:09,640 --> 00:43:12,080 that we're living with this 24 hours a day. 785 00:43:12,080 --> 00:43:14,520 It was an awful business to cut off, and we had rainy weather. 786 00:43:14,520 --> 00:43:17,520 Why didn't you just leave it there? Because it looked simply disgusting. 787 00:43:17,520 --> 00:43:19,080 I mean, it was all paper and signs. 788 00:43:19,080 --> 00:43:21,600 You wouldn't have liked it around in front of your house... 789 00:43:21,600 --> 00:43:24,400 They break your hedge down, they hang things in your hedge. 790 00:43:24,400 --> 00:43:26,800 It is so disgusting! They're great at hanging things... 791 00:43:26,800 --> 00:43:29,760 I have never seen anything so awful. Don't they just love hanging...? 792 00:43:29,760 --> 00:43:31,880 We're having to come back from a holiday. We're only 793 00:43:31,880 --> 00:43:34,440 going for half our holiday because we daren't leave the house. 794 00:43:34,440 --> 00:43:37,160 That's right! But I don't think they will break things in the house. 795 00:43:37,160 --> 00:43:38,240 They haven't been rough. 796 00:43:38,240 --> 00:43:41,080 But they certainly will use it as a lavatory. Hundreds of them! 797 00:43:41,080 --> 00:43:44,560 Well, you know... So I'm certainly coming back so they do not. 798 00:43:49,120 --> 00:43:50,920 MUSIC: Save Your Love by Renee and Renato 799 00:43:50,920 --> 00:43:53,600 As 1983 rolled in, across the Rhondda 800 00:43:53,600 --> 00:43:57,080 they were enjoying their morning cornflakes with Frank and Selina. 801 00:43:57,080 --> 00:43:58,800 A good, good job. Keep it up. 802 00:43:58,800 --> 00:44:01,040 We've only been going for about a minute. 803 00:44:02,160 --> 00:44:04,720 And the clock was ticking down for cruises' arrival. 804 00:44:06,200 --> 00:44:08,360 After thousands of women had flooded the base, 805 00:44:08,360 --> 00:44:10,840 it was clear support for Greenham was growing, 806 00:44:10,840 --> 00:44:13,880 and the government got serious about stopping the protest. 807 00:44:18,040 --> 00:44:21,480 Good evening. More equipment for cruise missiles has been flown in 808 00:44:21,480 --> 00:44:23,400 to Greenham Common Air Base. 809 00:44:23,400 --> 00:44:25,160 More demonstrators have been arrested. 810 00:44:25,160 --> 00:44:28,240 And MPs have raised the question - what's going to happen 811 00:44:28,240 --> 00:44:30,680 when live nuclear warheads are on the base 812 00:44:30,680 --> 00:44:33,760 if the demonstrators manage to get near them? 813 00:44:33,760 --> 00:44:35,920 Security really ramped up. 814 00:44:35,920 --> 00:44:37,960 Watchtowers appeared. 815 00:44:37,960 --> 00:44:41,320 There were two lines of razor wire, there were dogs. 816 00:44:42,720 --> 00:44:44,080 It felt different. 817 00:44:44,080 --> 00:44:48,280 The response became...far less compassionate. 818 00:44:49,600 --> 00:44:52,760 Nothing soft about this any more. The game was on. 819 00:44:52,760 --> 00:44:56,440 The defence of Greenham Common against invasion by protesters 820 00:44:56,440 --> 00:44:59,680 has been prepared with the same meticulous attention to detail 821 00:44:59,680 --> 00:45:01,880 that went into the Falklands campaign. 822 00:45:04,840 --> 00:45:07,200 A High Court judge has ruled that all the women 823 00:45:07,200 --> 00:45:09,600 who've been demonstrating against nuclear weapons 824 00:45:09,600 --> 00:45:11,280 at Greenham Common in Berkshire 825 00:45:11,280 --> 00:45:13,600 should be evicted from their peace camp. 826 00:45:15,000 --> 00:45:18,480 When the eviction orders were made, 827 00:45:18,480 --> 00:45:20,440 that's when the bailiffs were sent in. 828 00:45:20,440 --> 00:45:26,400 And the bailiffs were really very violent. 829 00:45:26,400 --> 00:45:28,680 What we want is Greenham Common 830 00:45:28,680 --> 00:45:32,400 to be returned to what it was before September, 1981. 831 00:45:32,400 --> 00:45:35,920 Gypsies cannot camp there, tinkers cannot camp there. 832 00:45:35,920 --> 00:45:37,200 Why should the peace women 833 00:45:37,200 --> 00:45:39,640 expect that the law should be bent in their favour? 834 00:45:39,640 --> 00:45:42,720 Whereas before you'd get occasional evictions, 835 00:45:42,720 --> 00:45:45,840 they would evict every day. Sometimes twice a day. 836 00:45:45,840 --> 00:45:48,960 And that was so hard. So hard to live there. 837 00:45:48,960 --> 00:45:52,680 Because they came en masse and took everything. 838 00:45:52,680 --> 00:45:54,840 There have been reports demonstrators who approach 839 00:45:54,840 --> 00:45:57,400 the missile bunkers will be shot. 840 00:45:57,400 --> 00:45:59,720 And the Defence Secretary, Mr Heseltine, 841 00:45:59,720 --> 00:46:02,520 was asked for an assurance that that would not happen. 842 00:46:02,520 --> 00:46:06,360 I categorically will give no such assurance. 843 00:46:06,360 --> 00:46:09,920 It has been the absolute duty of all governments 844 00:46:09,920 --> 00:46:12,920 to defend nuclear weapons in this country. 845 00:46:12,920 --> 00:46:16,040 It was scary, knowing that they could shoot us. 846 00:46:16,040 --> 00:46:19,560 And I thought that was horrendous. 847 00:46:19,560 --> 00:46:22,960 When they threaten us, we just respond, yeah? 848 00:46:22,960 --> 00:46:25,800 "If they want it, let's fight 'em. 849 00:46:27,240 --> 00:46:29,120 "But we'll do it peacefully." 850 00:46:30,360 --> 00:46:31,520 As the fight turned nasty 851 00:46:31,520 --> 00:46:33,640 and pressure from the government hotted up, 852 00:46:33,640 --> 00:46:36,640 some Greenham women turned to more drastic measures. 853 00:46:38,200 --> 00:46:41,760 I joined the Royal Air Force in 1983. 854 00:46:41,760 --> 00:46:43,800 And really, within a matter of weeks, 855 00:46:43,800 --> 00:46:46,200 we were detached to Greenham Common 856 00:46:46,200 --> 00:46:50,720 to support the, um...military inside the base. 857 00:46:52,280 --> 00:46:55,200 When you first sort of rock up 858 00:46:55,200 --> 00:46:58,880 and you see the number of women at each gate, 859 00:46:58,880 --> 00:47:01,400 that was an eye-opener. 860 00:47:01,400 --> 00:47:03,280 Think about your children. Yes, I am. 861 00:47:03,280 --> 00:47:06,600 You don't think about your life? You're standing on my leg. 862 00:47:06,600 --> 00:47:10,240 The groups at the camps swelled at weekends 863 00:47:10,240 --> 00:47:13,480 and they would get a little bit wanting something to happen. 864 00:47:14,520 --> 00:47:16,400 And so, they'd cut through the fence 865 00:47:16,400 --> 00:47:18,560 and they would try and get arrested. 866 00:47:18,560 --> 00:47:21,160 When that sort of thing wasn't happening 867 00:47:21,160 --> 00:47:24,280 and they just wanted to upset you, 868 00:47:24,280 --> 00:47:27,840 that's when a urine-filled bag would hit you. 869 00:47:27,840 --> 00:47:29,840 I have a right to stand there! 870 00:47:29,840 --> 00:47:32,240 This is my home you're destroying! 871 00:47:32,240 --> 00:47:34,800 The missiles were now only weeks away. 872 00:47:34,800 --> 00:47:38,440 The first of the American airmen who will man cruise missiles in Britain 873 00:47:38,440 --> 00:47:40,400 will arrive here within the next fortnight. 874 00:47:40,400 --> 00:47:41,800 It's another stage in the plan 875 00:47:41,800 --> 00:47:44,040 to have the missiles operational by December. 876 00:47:45,760 --> 00:47:48,240 With less than a month to go until cruises' arrival, 877 00:47:48,240 --> 00:47:50,760 the Greenham women were running out of options. 878 00:47:52,280 --> 00:47:54,840 They had one last unthinkable plan. 879 00:47:56,000 --> 00:47:58,800 We decided to take President Reagan to court. 880 00:47:58,800 --> 00:48:01,920 They were his missiles. 881 00:48:01,920 --> 00:48:04,080 MUSIC: Kids in America by Kim Wilde 882 00:48:04,080 --> 00:48:07,200 The Prime Minister informed me of what her government is doing 883 00:48:07,200 --> 00:48:11,040 to prepare for the scheduled deployment of cruise missiles. 884 00:48:11,040 --> 00:48:13,160 I expressed the thanks of the American people 885 00:48:13,160 --> 00:48:17,200 to the Prime Minister for Britain's strong and unequivocal support 886 00:48:17,200 --> 00:48:18,440 on this vital issue. 887 00:48:18,440 --> 00:48:20,760 Leader of the free world or not, 888 00:48:20,760 --> 00:48:22,880 these girls were ready for a fight. 889 00:48:22,880 --> 00:48:25,200 There is an act under which, 890 00:48:25,200 --> 00:48:28,520 if American policy directly affects your life, 891 00:48:28,520 --> 00:48:32,720 then you can take the President to court. 892 00:48:32,720 --> 00:48:36,240 With just days to stop President Reagan bringing in the missiles, 893 00:48:36,240 --> 00:48:38,720 it was now or never. 894 00:48:38,720 --> 00:48:41,080 The plaintiffs from Wales, most of them from the Rhondda, 895 00:48:41,080 --> 00:48:44,400 are no strangers to the legal system and the courts in this country. 896 00:48:46,760 --> 00:48:50,560 You're taking your eight-month-old baby with you to America. Yeah. 897 00:48:50,560 --> 00:48:55,000 How much is this an emotional case, an emotional hearing, do you think? 898 00:48:55,000 --> 00:48:57,680 I'm going to fight. And that's what we're all doing, 899 00:48:57,680 --> 00:48:59,880 we're fighting for their lives. Cos we... 900 00:48:59,880 --> 00:49:03,480 It is... It's all basically very emotional 901 00:49:03,480 --> 00:49:06,760 because that's what it's about - it's about children and the future. 902 00:49:06,760 --> 00:49:09,120 We don't have the right to destroy this planet. 903 00:49:09,120 --> 00:49:11,520 But before the showdown in the States, 904 00:49:11,520 --> 00:49:14,480 Chris had some trouble at home. 905 00:49:14,480 --> 00:49:16,960 The morning we were going off, 906 00:49:16,960 --> 00:49:19,680 my husband tipped a bowl of porridge over my head. 907 00:49:21,440 --> 00:49:25,800 And I think that was my giveaway that things were not happy. 908 00:49:25,800 --> 00:49:31,160 That he really, really was reaching the end of his tether there. 909 00:49:31,160 --> 00:49:34,120 I-I was shocked. 910 00:49:34,120 --> 00:49:36,600 I mean, I was just shocked. 911 00:49:36,600 --> 00:49:39,280 So I just washed my hair and went. 912 00:49:39,280 --> 00:49:42,120 # We're the kids in America... # 913 00:49:42,120 --> 00:49:45,080 As the Greenham women touched down across the pond... 914 00:49:45,080 --> 00:49:46,680 The amused New Yorkers came to work 915 00:49:46,680 --> 00:49:49,840 to find a Greenham Common encampment on their doorstep. 916 00:49:55,000 --> 00:49:57,040 ..back at home, the clock was ticking. 917 00:49:57,040 --> 00:50:00,080 It now seems certain that cruise nuclear missiles 918 00:50:00,080 --> 00:50:01,680 will be flown into Greenham Common 919 00:50:01,680 --> 00:50:04,160 during the first few days of next week. 920 00:50:04,160 --> 00:50:06,320 At Greenham, Galaxy transport planes 921 00:50:06,320 --> 00:50:08,440 have been flying in stores every day. 922 00:50:08,440 --> 00:50:10,440 The launch vehicles are already here, 923 00:50:10,440 --> 00:50:12,320 and there can't be much more to come. 924 00:50:12,320 --> 00:50:15,560 Except, that is, the Tomahawk cruise missiles themselves 925 00:50:15,560 --> 00:50:17,720 and their nuclear warheads. 926 00:50:17,720 --> 00:50:21,440 They headed into the Supreme Court to plead their case. 927 00:50:22,440 --> 00:50:25,560 We got to court, we found we'd been allocated 928 00:50:25,560 --> 00:50:29,160 the most conservative and the most hostile judge 929 00:50:29,160 --> 00:50:32,800 of the entire, er...Second Circuit. 930 00:50:32,800 --> 00:50:34,880 So this is the statement 931 00:50:34,880 --> 00:50:37,600 I presented to the American court. 932 00:50:37,600 --> 00:50:41,280 In the case of Greenham women against cruise missiles, 933 00:50:41,280 --> 00:50:42,880 against Ronald Reagan. 934 00:50:42,880 --> 00:50:46,560 READS: Since I began in November, 1981, 935 00:50:46,560 --> 00:50:49,160 I have hardly spent a full week at home. 936 00:50:49,160 --> 00:50:52,720 My marriage and family life were threatened. 937 00:50:52,720 --> 00:50:55,080 But what choice have I got? 938 00:50:55,080 --> 00:51:00,360 If I stay at home, I know that I am signing my children's death warrant. 939 00:51:06,800 --> 00:51:09,680 We didn't win, obviously, the case. 940 00:51:09,680 --> 00:51:11,760 The ruling of the court was 941 00:51:11,760 --> 00:51:15,440 that they accepted our right to bring the case, 942 00:51:15,440 --> 00:51:18,680 but that the court didn't have the jurisdiction 943 00:51:18,680 --> 00:51:20,800 to change American policy. 944 00:51:20,800 --> 00:51:23,320 That could only be done by the American government. 945 00:51:23,320 --> 00:51:25,240 I was in a terrible state. 946 00:51:27,440 --> 00:51:30,360 Days later, their worst fears came true. 947 00:51:31,960 --> 00:51:34,720 We were sitting there and the news came on... 948 00:51:36,560 --> 00:51:40,240 The first American cruise missiles are now in Britain. 949 00:51:40,240 --> 00:51:42,000 ..and I was floored by this. 950 00:51:43,560 --> 00:51:45,800 I can remember thinking, "They can't do this." 951 00:51:48,480 --> 00:51:49,720 It was early this morning 952 00:51:49,720 --> 00:51:52,000 at Greenham Common RAF base in Berkshire 953 00:51:52,000 --> 00:51:55,920 that a United States Starlifter landed with its cargo of missiles. 954 00:51:55,920 --> 00:51:59,120 And how did you come back from that, then? 955 00:52:00,360 --> 00:52:05,080 I don't know if I ever really did, to be honest. 956 00:52:05,080 --> 00:52:09,160 It was dark because, you know, this had been the focus 957 00:52:09,160 --> 00:52:10,880 of what we were doing, 958 00:52:10,880 --> 00:52:14,360 was to try and stop these weapons coming in. 959 00:52:15,880 --> 00:52:18,000 It was horrible. It was horrible. 960 00:52:20,120 --> 00:52:24,000 At home in Porth, Kath and Lesley were also glued to the TV. 961 00:52:24,000 --> 00:52:26,960 The news of the landing of the first cruise missile yesterday 962 00:52:26,960 --> 00:52:29,880 came as a shock to the girls from the Welsh Valleys. 963 00:52:29,880 --> 00:52:33,400 For they are not just Valley girls, but Greenham Common women. 964 00:52:33,400 --> 00:52:36,160 Women who have fought against cruise for two years. 965 00:52:36,160 --> 00:52:38,120 Women who, just one year ago, 966 00:52:38,120 --> 00:52:40,720 were the first to be imprisoned for their cause. 967 00:52:40,720 --> 00:52:44,600 Now they're saddened, but they're still set to fight. 968 00:52:44,600 --> 00:52:46,360 I felt really sick when I first heard it. 969 00:52:46,360 --> 00:52:50,040 I don't think it's sunk in yet, just what it means. 970 00:52:50,040 --> 00:52:53,640 Although we have been expecting it. I've been expecting it for a while. 971 00:52:53,640 --> 00:52:55,840 We really didn't want this to happen. 972 00:52:55,840 --> 00:52:59,400 When cruise did arrive, that was so hard. 973 00:52:59,400 --> 00:53:02,040 I just thought, "Oh, we've lost!" 974 00:53:03,160 --> 00:53:06,120 I came back from America feeling very deflated. 975 00:53:07,840 --> 00:53:10,720 The women had worked so hard to stop this happening. 976 00:53:10,720 --> 00:53:14,160 And although, in a way, it was inevitable, 977 00:53:14,160 --> 00:53:17,080 I mean, the mere fact of their arrival 978 00:53:17,080 --> 00:53:19,760 was...was...was frightening. 979 00:53:26,600 --> 00:53:27,960 When the girls got home, 980 00:53:27,960 --> 00:53:30,920 they found themselves in a different battleground. 981 00:53:30,920 --> 00:53:34,200 The Welsh coal industry was hanging in the balance 982 00:53:34,200 --> 00:53:36,840 and the miners' strike was at its height. 983 00:53:36,840 --> 00:53:39,840 I must tell you that what we've got 984 00:53:39,840 --> 00:53:43,760 is an attempt to substitute the rule of the mob 985 00:53:43,760 --> 00:53:46,120 for the rule of law! 986 00:53:48,960 --> 00:53:51,720 They were trying to close the pits. 987 00:53:51,720 --> 00:53:53,720 They were saying that they weren't viable. 988 00:53:53,720 --> 00:53:56,160 I felt very strongly about that 989 00:53:56,160 --> 00:53:59,440 because my father had been a miner. 990 00:53:59,440 --> 00:54:03,440 And, yes, you know, we joined in picket lines. 991 00:54:03,440 --> 00:54:07,960 And so, I went to a miners' picket line 992 00:54:07,960 --> 00:54:10,200 and Lynne got arrested. 993 00:54:11,800 --> 00:54:14,680 So, did you become a bit disenchanted with Greenham, then, 994 00:54:14,680 --> 00:54:16,280 in those later years? 995 00:54:19,280 --> 00:54:20,680 Probably. 996 00:54:20,680 --> 00:54:23,640 Life on the home front was also getting tough. 997 00:54:23,640 --> 00:54:28,440 It was after cruise come, Christine had her child. 998 00:54:29,880 --> 00:54:32,600 Susan had three children by then. 999 00:54:32,600 --> 00:54:36,200 There was lots of stuff going on that we... 1000 00:54:36,200 --> 00:54:38,440 ..we had to prioritise to live. 1001 00:54:40,680 --> 00:54:44,960 There were times that I was so sick of the rows about Greenham 1002 00:54:44,960 --> 00:54:47,840 that I...I...did think, 1003 00:54:47,840 --> 00:54:50,560 "Oh, this has got to stop." 1004 00:54:50,560 --> 00:54:52,640 I never thought it would cost me my marriage. 1005 00:54:52,640 --> 00:54:54,400 It did cost me my marriage, 1006 00:54:54,400 --> 00:54:57,640 cos I left him in 1984, 1007 00:54:57,640 --> 00:54:59,160 after seven years. 1008 00:55:00,440 --> 00:55:02,400 When was it that you split up? 1009 00:55:03,920 --> 00:55:09,520 Er...not until...1989, I think. 1010 00:55:09,520 --> 00:55:12,400 Is just too much water went under the bridge. 1011 00:55:12,400 --> 00:55:15,240 Greenham changed my whole perspective 1012 00:55:15,240 --> 00:55:18,640 and there wasn't any going back from it, I don't think. 1013 00:55:20,480 --> 00:55:23,960 MUSIC: Just Like Honey by The Jesus and Mary Chain 1014 00:55:36,280 --> 00:55:39,280 # Listen to the girl 1015 00:55:39,280 --> 00:55:43,560 # As she takes on half the world 1016 00:55:43,560 --> 00:55:47,120 # Moving up and so alive 1017 00:55:47,120 --> 00:55:49,840 # In her honey-dripping... # 1018 00:55:49,840 --> 00:55:54,880 I was NOT expecting to see Greenham Common as a nature reserve. 1019 00:55:54,880 --> 00:55:56,120 Well, yeah. 1020 00:55:57,600 --> 00:55:59,000 BIRDSONG 1021 00:56:01,080 --> 00:56:03,320 40 years after their first visit, 1022 00:56:03,320 --> 00:56:05,600 the Porth sisters are back at Greenham. 1023 00:56:09,600 --> 00:56:10,840 Wow! Wow! 1024 00:56:10,840 --> 00:56:13,280 I just don't recognise the place. 1025 00:56:15,120 --> 00:56:20,560 In 1989, what the Greenham women had been fighting for finally happened. 1026 00:56:20,560 --> 00:56:23,720 Reagan's missiles were sent home to America. 1027 00:56:23,720 --> 00:56:27,440 The first cruise missiles to leave RAF Greenham Common 1028 00:56:27,440 --> 00:56:30,320 were flown to the United States today. 1029 00:56:30,320 --> 00:56:32,320 The runways have gone 1030 00:56:32,320 --> 00:56:35,720 and the missile silos have been empty for three decades. 1031 00:56:35,720 --> 00:56:38,880 When cruise actually went, 1032 00:56:38,880 --> 00:56:42,040 I just thought, "Oh, yes! We won!" 1033 00:56:42,040 --> 00:56:45,920 It took a long time, but we got there in the end. 1034 00:56:47,120 --> 00:56:48,720 Yes, it was all worth it! 1035 00:56:48,720 --> 00:56:51,000 Yes, we succeeded in doing it. 1036 00:56:52,040 --> 00:56:56,400 I think it...it showed us that we could win. 1037 00:56:56,400 --> 00:56:57,960 And indeed we did! 1038 00:56:59,400 --> 00:57:03,000 They've got Dartford warblers here instead of cruise missiles! 1039 00:57:03,000 --> 00:57:07,160 All that's left of old Greenham is a single gate. 1040 00:57:07,160 --> 00:57:10,440 Razor wire! What happened to the razor wire?! 1041 00:57:10,440 --> 00:57:12,520 It is amazing. It's absolutely... 1042 00:57:12,520 --> 00:57:14,440 I can't believe it! 1043 00:57:14,440 --> 00:57:16,680 Greenham Common's Women's Peace Camp 1044 00:57:16,680 --> 00:57:19,880 never get the credit for disarmament. 1045 00:57:19,880 --> 00:57:22,640 The governments get the credit. Who did it? 1046 00:57:22,640 --> 00:57:26,160 Gorbachev and Reagan. 1047 00:57:26,160 --> 00:57:28,200 But who really did it? 1048 00:57:28,200 --> 00:57:32,920 The pressure that was put on them to actually address the issue, 1049 00:57:32,920 --> 00:57:36,120 that was down to women's action. 1050 00:57:36,120 --> 00:57:38,800 It was triumphant! The missiles went! 1051 00:57:40,920 --> 00:57:43,000 We should have all come before now 1052 00:57:43,000 --> 00:57:45,720 and we should have all come as a group 1053 00:57:45,720 --> 00:57:48,480 and actually celebrated what we achieved. 1054 00:57:48,480 --> 00:57:52,360 Cos this, to me, is totally amazing. 1055 00:57:53,960 --> 00:57:57,240 If Greenham hadn't have happened, this would be Tarmac. 1056 00:57:57,240 --> 00:58:01,360 You realise you can change big things, you can change small things. 1057 00:58:01,360 --> 00:58:02,720 You can change your life. 1058 00:58:02,720 --> 00:58:05,520 You can set yourself goals, you can achieve them. 1059 00:58:05,520 --> 00:58:07,440 Because of this, right, 1060 00:58:07,440 --> 00:58:09,880 that's made me know that we can change the world. 1061 00:58:09,880 --> 00:58:12,520 Absolutely. It doesn't have to be like this. 1062 00:58:12,520 --> 00:58:16,120 I learned that I could... I was not what I thought I was. 1063 00:58:16,120 --> 00:58:18,840 That I had, um... 1064 00:58:18,840 --> 00:58:21,960 ..as much right as anyone else 1065 00:58:21,960 --> 00:58:26,080 to have an opinion and be forceful in that opinion. 1066 00:58:26,080 --> 00:58:28,880 And do you feel proud of what you did? 1067 00:58:28,880 --> 00:58:30,320 Oh, massively. 1068 00:58:30,320 --> 00:58:31,880 It was difficult, 1069 00:58:31,880 --> 00:58:34,960 it was scary, it was... 1070 00:58:37,880 --> 00:58:39,440 It was crazy. 1071 00:58:41,120 --> 00:58:42,360 But it was the right thing to do 1072 00:58:42,360 --> 00:58:45,120 and I wouldn't have missed it for the world. 1073 00:58:45,120 --> 00:58:47,200 One, two, three, four! 1074 00:58:53,640 --> 00:58:57,520 # All we are saying 1075 00:58:59,040 --> 00:59:02,560 # Is give peace a chance. # 1076 00:59:02,560 --> 00:59:04,760 OK! Beautiful! Yeah! 1077 00:59:04,760 --> 00:59:07,280 CHEERING