Jacqui’s first visit to Greenham was on a bus arranged by a Yeovil group in 1982/83. Later, she made regular weekend visits for years in her work Women’s Aid car, taking boxes of food and supplies. She remembers a big police presence, saying they behaved as if it was the women who had the bombs. 

Jacqui lived in a rural Somerset village where everyone questioned what she was doing – she was reported to social services for being a lesbian, taking her son out of school to home educate him and having women camp in her garden. 

She recalls the 1986 Chernobyl disaster compounding the fear and reality of the danger and her wanting to support the women standing up against the government in the cold and wet between the military and police officers. 

“Those ‘silly women’ didn’t go home… they stayed and prevailed.” 

Jacqui was interviewed by Vanessa Pini in March 2021.

Interview Transcript