A banner seen at the North Gate to the Faslane Naval Base. Photo: Photo: Chris Booth / flickr CC.
Friends witness at Faslane
Twenty years of peace witness
Scottish Friends are approaching their twentieth year of witnessing for peace at the Faslane naval base on the Clyde in Scotland. There will be a Meeting for Worship at the north gates of Faslane on 24 June. The witness is held six times a year and Friends come from Glasgow, Edinburgh, Argyle and sometimes further afield to take part.
Alison Burnley, of South Edinburgh Meeting, has been involved since the first meeting. She said: ‘The witness is now almost twenty years old. The first time we did it was in 1993. We have been doing it every year since’. She added: ‘We are witnessing to our opposition to the existence of Trident at Faslane. We always enter into conversation with people working in the base. We try not to be antagonistic but to engage in dialogue. We are not against the individuals working there but against government policy.’
Friends at Faslane hold an annual witness on Remembrance Day when they wear both red and white poppies.
Alison, who also witnessed for peace at Aldermaston in 1959, said: ‘I am in my seventies and I shall continue to witness at Faslane as long as I can. The Meeting for Worship begins at 11am at the north gates of the naval base.’
