Rochdale doves land at Aldermaston

Mai Chatham and Rae Street tie banners to the perimeter fence at Aldermaston

Rochdale and Littleborough Peace Group made very sure that their message was seen at the Atomic Weapons Establishment in Berkshire on Easter Monday (24 March), despite the wet and windy weather. As they had promised to do, they took hundreds of cards signed by people in Rochdale and tied these to the fence of the Aldermaston base where scientists are developing new nuclear warheads for the Trident nuclear weapons system. The cards featured doves of peace and the famous symbol of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. They also carried the message, `The Bomb Stops Here´.

The peace group also hung on the fence a hundred foot long banner showing the cost of nuclear arms to the world's children. Other banners called for an end to the UK's threat of nuclear annihilation and for the immediate closure of AWE.

The Rochdale peace activists joined thousands of others from around the country in surrounding the nuclear base and calling for the immediate decommissioning of the Trident system and an end to the government´s plans to develop new nuclear weapons.

The Rochdale activists included Mai Chatham of Timbercliffe, Littleborough who took part in the very first CND march to Aldermaston in 1958 and other local peace campaigners such as Pat Sanchez, Rae Street, Pauline Devine and Sam O´Brien.

Mai Chatham said: "The issue of nuclear disarmament is as pressing now as it was in 1958 and I remain as committed as I ever was to creating a world where my grandchildren and their grandchildren will not live under the threat of nuclear annihilation. The first step must be the abandonment of nuclear weapons by countries like ours. We need to decommission the Trident nuclear weapons system immediately and to stop squandering billions on weapons of mass destruction which should be spent on social, health and welfare services.

"The Atomic Weapons Establishment is central to the government´s misguided plans to produce ever more dangerous nuclear weapons. Its annual budget has increased to a scandalous £420 million and this nuclear bomb factory is being expanded again and again. Hundreds of scientists and technicians who could be employed developing sustainable energy sources are instead being recruited by AWE to develop so-called `mini´ nuclear weapons designed to destroy people but not property. I can think of nothing more immoral."