Greenham Common: photos from an ex-Nuclear base

Here are the photos I took on Saturday up at Greenham Common. It's an ex-U.S. airbase which was used up until the end of the Cold War. It was eventually returned to the public as common land at the end of the 1990s, but the bunkers, stores and big lumps of concrete are still there.

I was chatting to someone who used to work at the base today. It made me remember passing by and seeing the protesters in their caravans outside. There were always people there, for years and years in all weather. You can read about the history of the camp here.

Mum says that she remembers massive U.S. planes flying over her school field in the middle of lacrosse practice. They were so loud that mum and her friends couldn't hear the teacher shouting instructions (must have been very loud!) so they all just stood there until it passed.

I've spoken to a number of people about how they felt during the Cuban Missile crisis ("we didn't know whether we would wake up in the morning"), but I can't begin to imagine the real sense of fear which so many people had to live with during the cold war.

Earlier this week the BBC reported the release of secret public information films which would have been released in the event of a Nuclear launch. It's chilling to think about, especially typing this only a few miles from what would have been one of the biggest U.S. airbases in the country.