New Quaker witness for Faslane naval base
'We sat outside the north gate, but now our age and the carbon footprint has made us have to think of something else.’
Scottish Friends have set up a new witness for peace to support worship taking place outside HM Naval Base Clyde (‘Faslane’). The base, which hosts four Trident submarines, has been the site of peace campaigns for forty years. A peace camp was set up close by on 12 June, 1982.
Alison Burnley, who took part for years in Quaker witness at Faslane, told the Friend that the Meeting for Worship had been set up in Edinburgh as travelling to Faslane had become increasingly challenging for many older Friends. ‘People in Edinburgh have been going to Faslane for years, not to protest but to witness for peace. We did six Sundays a year and one Remembrance Sunday – the police got quite interested and friendly; we sometimes gave them Advice & queries. We sat outside the north gate, but now our age and the carbon footprint has made us have to think of something else.’
According to the ‘Terrace Talk’ newsletter, it was agreed at the last Area Meeting to support South Edinburgh’s new Meeting for Worship to Witness for Peace near the fountain at the west end of Princes St Gardens in support of the Faslane witness.
The next Meeting for Worship in Edinburgh will be on 13 November for Remembrance Sunday. ‘We always make a point of doing it then and we all wear a white poppy,’ said Alison Burnley. ‘I wear a white poppy all year round.’
