TRIDENT365 10/11 NOVEMBER London Singing Group

TRIDENT 365 10/11 NOVEMBER
We were just 12 people ranging in age from 20 to 70 plus. The police outnumbered us by 3 or 4 to 1 on the 1st day, watching us to see how far we would take our demonstration. Would we try and block the entrance to the base and risk arrest? On this occasion, the answer was no. Instead we covered the fences in placards pointing out that Trident is a weapon of mass destruction and encourages nuclear proliferation. We displayed colourful banners - Sing Trident Out! WMDs? We've found them - . We gave out leaflets, in the form of an open letter, to workers going into the base and to passing motorists. Many people responded positively; some, stern-faced, ignored us; others were downright vulgar. We also distributed leaflets in Garelochhead and Helensburgh.
And we sang. In the wind and the rain and the cold, we sang. From 6.30 in the morning, for hour after hour, we sang - peace songs, anti-nuclear songs, anti-Trident songs, we-shall-not-give-up-the-fight songs. it's what warmed our hearts and lifted up our spirits. The power of song.
The police, many of them, seemed impressed by our determination to defy the weather, offered to share their sandwiches, stood with us during the Armistice Day 2 minutes' silence, chatted to us about Joan Baez songs and guitars and how, when they were lads in the 60s, their dads had taken them to anti-Polaris demos in Holy Loch.
We'd decided before we went that as we were such a small group risking arrest was not a sensible option. But we felt we'd done our best to make our message known and our presence felt and heard. And we came back enthused enough to contemplate doing it again. 'Trident, Trident, money down the drain, It can kill all living creatures and then kill them all again...'
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