CND uses its knit-wits

On 9th August, CND will connect the nuclear bomb factories at Aldermaston and Burghfield with a giant, seven mile long, pink peace scarf! Hundreds of supporters have been knitting beautiful pieces of pink wool and crochet which will form part of the seven mile long peace scarf. CND still needs more pieces, but it also needs as many people as possible to come to the demonstration on the roll-out day – the 69th anniversary of the bombing of Nagasaki – whether they have knitted or not!

Why connect the AWE factories with a seven mile pink scarf? The Atomic Weapons Establishments (AWE) at Aldermaston and Burghfield are the bomb factories which make Britain’s nuclear warheads. Ahead of an expected Parliamentary vote in 2016 on whether the Government should spend over £100 billion on a new nuclear weapons system, there will be increasing demonstrations at AWE calling for Trident and its replacement to be scrapped.

How can you get involved?

Go to the demonstration on 9th August. You don’t need to have knitted for the scarf to go along – simply being there will be a fantastic contribution to the day.

How to get there? There will be coaches travelling to the demonstration from all across the country. For further details of coaches, go to www.cnduk.org – where you will also find more information about public transport and parking.

On the day Participants are being directed to colour-coded milestones based on their region or affiliation. You can see the milestones on the map on the CND website. You can arrive from 10:00am onwards. There will be entertainment at each milestone while CND connects the scarf sections, aiming to be fully connected by 1:00pm. Bells will be rung once the scarf is all joined together and then there will be a two minute silence to remember everyone who has been killed or injured by nuclear weapons. The demonstration will be finished by 3pm.

Help promote the event Could you distribute some leaflets or posters to your local craft shop, library or hospital? You can download posters in colour and black & white as well as postcards from the CND website, or you can order hard copies free of charge by contacting campaigns@cnduk.org.

Get knitting/crocheting CND still needs pieces to make the seven-miles of scarf. Each piece of the scarf will measure 60cm wide x 100cm long. You can use any thickness of yarn, any style, any stitch – be creative. The CND website has a pattern for the CND symbol, if you wish to incorporate it. Send your completed pieces to the CND office (CND, 162 Holloway Road, London, N7 8DQ.

This event is part of a programme of actions with ActionAWE. For further details, please see http://www.woolagainstweapons.co.uk/.