On Sunday November 30th 2014, three buses packed with enthusiastic protesters set off from Edinburgh to Faslane. We were going to link up there with people from all over Scotland for the Scrap Trident Demonstration. We had a good journey and arrived at the Gare Loch, near Helensburgh, at around 12noon in beautiful sunshine. I think there were about 20 or so choir members from Protest in Harmony plus, of course, all three of our incredible song leaders, Penny, Jane and Shereen. We had our banner held high, and a wealth of wonderful peace songs to sing. We joined others at the South gate of the Base to walk the long road past the perimeter fence up to the North gate. It was very moving to see the Peace Camp on the other side of the road, which was set up many years ago, and people still living there.
We sang our way to the North gate, passing stalls„ metres of pink knitting, posters etc. to join thousands of fellow protesters. There followed two hours of speeches, music ‚drumming, and singing, It was a bit disappointing for us as it was difficult to be heard but we tried our best! But what struck us with such force was, that here we were in the most incredible, magical landscape, surrounded by distant mountains, dramatic skies, and the blue of the Loch. And. like the thousands of protesters before us, we were standing at the gates of this terrible, horrific blot on this beautiful landscape. Hopefully, we will stand firm and never, never give up in our effort to remove it !
Margot