Missile Battery

A day of several halves.

Those massive shelters are on Greenham Common, and for the years between 1982 and 1991 they housed a nuclear deterrent and a significant US Air Force presence. Since then the bunkers are believed to have been derelict / abandoned, and now have a decent sized bat colony - another battery of sorts. Can something be derelict AND preserved for historic record?

After the decision to locate the missiles and bombers there in 1980, a women's peace camp was established and this stayed occupied until 2000.

After much political faffing around, the infrastructure and runways have been largely removed ( save a fascinating visitor centre in the control tower), and cattle graze freely on this common land. I've chosen this slightly clumsy viewpoint to include the feel of the heathland that families and pets enjoy. I wonder how many children have this very recent history pointed out to them to them.

I remember some of the news coverage about this, and it is so interesting to see photos I remember from the news in a historic record.

Second half of this brilliantly sunny day was another canoe race, finishing in nearby Newbury and the reason I parked at Greenham. The river and canal were over their banks, and the turbulence where two streams met a few hundred metres from the finish caused many incidents. Exhausted by leaping out and running round over 30 locks in their 3 1/2 hour ordeal, plenty of paddlers lacked the speed and power to control their craft. The young competitors in the first extra picture lost both paddles, so bravely carried their kayak over a high road bridge and along the towpath to the finish.