Greenham Common

Another dank and dreary morning. After a slow start we headed off for Greenham Common, calling in at the bathroom showroom to choose a shower basket to house shampoo etc on the way. That little job done we drove down the M3, skirted around Basingstoke and arrived at the Greenham Common Control Tower in time for a lunchtime snack. Whilst we ate our lunch a slide show was playing on a wall mounted TV screen and it was interesting to observe the history of the Common, from WWI military training ground, to WWII airfield and home to a number of USAAF squadrons, to Cold War home of USAF Strategic Air Command, to the home of the hated ground-launched cruise missiles (which spawned the Greenham Common Women's Peace Camp) and finally back to being common ground.

After lunch we walked the two flights of stairs to the upper Control Room and enjoyed  the panoramic views of Berkshire and beyond. In my early gliding days Greenham Common was a very handy landmark to assist in navigation. Later, in the 1990s after the airfield was decommissioned, the runways were dug up, the hardcore sold to the folks building the Newbury Bypass and the land returned to vegetation. Now it is a popular spot with dog walkers. How things circle around. The extra shows one of three knitted murals that hang in the Control Tower cafe. They were made by 13 local ladies over a three year period. The knitted decoration tells quite a tale.

After a short walk on the very wet and muddy Common we called in at the National Needlework Archive, which is situated on the other side of what was the runway. Given that tomorrow is boring old housework day in the Flossmo household I am going to keep the photographs that I took there until then.