I am a 70 year old grandmother, with three adult children and three grandchildren under 10 years old. I moved to Cornwall from West Sussex in 2016 and became involved with Extinction Rebellion in West Cornwall in the summer of 2019. Having attended a “Heading for Extinction” talk at the local day centre, I was absolutely shocked but also motivated by what I learned that evening. I felt compelled to do something to give my grandchildren a voice in what will be their future. This was my initiation into life as an XR rebel!
In October 2019 I went to London with two fellow XR friends intending to help cook for the rebels. We customised our aprons with various XR logos and felt excited but also anxious about what we were about to experience. I travelled up to London on a coach all the way from Falmouth and the mood was upbeat all the way.
We were staying in the house of a friend in South London and on the first day of the action, we arrived to discover that Westminster Bridge had already been closed off by police and shortly after, the SW field kitchen was confiscated. So I guess this gave us a clue as to what the next few days would mean and we realised we would need to be creative and flexible if we were to help feed many people. Information via Signal and Telegram was a bit sparse as far as instructions were concerned because we had all signed up on a volunteer rota for the cooking but had no idea whether this was still viable. We used the time on that first day to walk around and take in the sights and sounds of a rebellion, watching arrests and seeing for ourselves how quickly things can change and wondering if we would decide to risk arrest if the opportunity arose. We had previously made a pact between the three of us that we needed to avoid arrest – the other two had jobs to return to and I had family commitments.
On our second day we had decided that we would seek out the Bristol kitchen to see if they needed our help. We had baked a batch of flapjack and filled some wraps which had been saved from the confiscated foodstuffs at Westminster Bridge before we left the house. So we arrived on day 2 loaded down with warm, straight from the oven flapjacks and a box of wraps. The rebels who were occupying the area around Marsham Street with tents seemed very pleased to be offered the flapjacks and the wraps were placed on the counter of the Bristol kitchen when we found it. We were told that there were loads of volunteers turning up to offer help with cooking, serving, washing up, preparing food etc etc and advised to return later to see if the situation had changed. So another day of just “being” amongst everyone ensued. We ran a couple of errands for the Scottish kitchen who were trying to set up in Parliament Square but needed kitchen knives. That errand was impossible to complete as there were health and safety rules to be followed if carrying knives and nobody had the correct equipment available to put them in anyway. Later on we finally joined the Bristol kitchen and spent a really enjoyable few hours preparing vegetables. I eventually managed to get a turn on stirring the huge pot of veg curry. I threw in handfuls of various herbs and spices with absolutely no clue how to judge the amount needed for the huge vat we were cooking, but nobody seemed to mind and the great thing about XR is that everyone takes responsibility for their own actions! I found it quite refreshing to have to adapt my expectations about catering in a tent on a wet pavement and all three of us felt exhausted but elated by the time our shift ended and other eager volunteers replaced us. At least we felt we had done something even if it was not quite what we had planned.
We became very attuned to the chanting and clapping and banging of drums which accompanied the now frequent arrests being made. The sounds of the rebellion were many and mostly loud!
Our stint in the tent was the only cheffing we managed in the four days we were there but I spent a delightful last, wet evening in Trafalgar Square on the washing up production line with a wonderfully eclectic mix of fellow volunteers; even a young Japanese man with little English who was a tourist and had been caught up in the Trafalgar Square events and who cheerfully set about helping on the production line. He told me that he was going to take what he had learned and seen of XR back to Japan to replicate. He had known nothing about it before he stumbled upon the rebellion.
Nothing could prepare me for the range of emotions that I experienced throughout my four days at the rebellion – from elation, to anger, to sadness, to a feeling of great solidarity with and warmth towards the rebels who without fail were polite, friendly and appreciative. We met so many people from so many diverse situations and backgrounds and made new friends. The beautiful St James Park camp was a highlight and gave us an opportunity also to help move a kitchen (ie all the equipment) before the police arrived to take it as they had said they would do. From somewhere I found a trolley and trundled it a number of times, loaded with food, across the lake to be emptied behind a tree in the hope that we had removed stuff safely before the police arrived. The busking, live theatre and calm, nurturing atmosphere in that camp remains with me when I occasionally look at my photos and video clips.
I had a feeling that life would never be the same after the experience of the London rebellion and indeed our St Ives and Hayle XR group has become part of my everyday life ever since. Since lockdown and the world changing (in some ways for the better) the overwhelming desire to make a difference and to call the Government to account has motivated me in new ways. I still worry for my grandsons and what the future holds for them, but I feel at least that I will spend my last few years trying to make a change on their behalf. We have left them a terrible mess to try and put right after all.