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- Aug 3, 2014
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Here's a quick history as I'm sure you all know it anyway's
Greenham Common has been, for most of its history, a valuable piece of common land and a shared sustainable resource for local farmers and cottagers. The last 70 years has seen a transformation of the common from being requisitioned for military use in Second World War and used as one of the main tactical bases for the D-Day offensive, to being a full scale nuclear airbase during the Cold War in 1980s. Since 2000 Greenham and Crookham Commons are protected under an Act of Parliament for the public to enjoy.
The Ministry of Defence decommissioned the airbase in the early 1990s and a number of proposals were put on the table including turning the site into a commercial airport and developing the whole area with housing. A group of concerned local residents and businessmen formed a coalition to find a positive solution about the future of the common. A charitable trust was formed - Greenham Common Trust - with the aim of preserving the majority of the common in perpetuity for the public and to create a sustainable project on the remaining site – the former military buildings - which would benefit local businesses, be a base for innovation and generate a sustainable charitable income for local charities and community organisations.
The Explore
For me Greenham was somewhere that was always on TV when I was a kid mostly for the wrong reasons. If you can forget that it once housed full on nuclear weapons then it is one of the most tranquil places ever
I visited with on of my normal exploring companions after we had seen aerial photos of the Millennium Falcon and a few X-wing fighters appear on Google
The drive down was full of childish excitement and jokes of joy riding the falcon, after all she is the ship that "did the Kessel Run in less than twelve parsecs"
On arrival we got speaking to two elderly ladies who where walking their dogs, they asked us if we knew what all the lorries going in and out where, we told them about the star wars thing and they replied, "How exciting" and wished us good luck. We found a hole in the outer fence left by a previous explorer.
Once inside the main fence we set about finding ways over the others. We managed to dodge security and end up with one fence to go before we scaled the back of the GAMA buildings when we heard "coooeee" " be careful security are driving round in a white van" we spun around to see the two dog walking old dears outside the main fence. Lol We thanked them and climbed the last fence.
With a quick sprint we where up the GAMA building and laying on the top to hide, this was it, just over the edge was a Star Wars geeks paradise! We commando crawled along the floor til we got to the edge. We peered over excited to see our childhood toys.
And....
It was all gone
We later found out we had missed it all by a few days
Still we had a great explore in a truly breath taking place
Hope you enjoy my pics, even though they are only taken on my I-phone
Greenham Common has been, for most of its history, a valuable piece of common land and a shared sustainable resource for local farmers and cottagers. The last 70 years has seen a transformation of the common from being requisitioned for military use in Second World War and used as one of the main tactical bases for the D-Day offensive, to being a full scale nuclear airbase during the Cold War in 1980s. Since 2000 Greenham and Crookham Commons are protected under an Act of Parliament for the public to enjoy.
The Ministry of Defence decommissioned the airbase in the early 1990s and a number of proposals were put on the table including turning the site into a commercial airport and developing the whole area with housing. A group of concerned local residents and businessmen formed a coalition to find a positive solution about the future of the common. A charitable trust was formed - Greenham Common Trust - with the aim of preserving the majority of the common in perpetuity for the public and to create a sustainable project on the remaining site – the former military buildings - which would benefit local businesses, be a base for innovation and generate a sustainable charitable income for local charities and community organisations.
The Explore
For me Greenham was somewhere that was always on TV when I was a kid mostly for the wrong reasons. If you can forget that it once housed full on nuclear weapons then it is one of the most tranquil places ever
I visited with on of my normal exploring companions after we had seen aerial photos of the Millennium Falcon and a few X-wing fighters appear on Google
The drive down was full of childish excitement and jokes of joy riding the falcon, after all she is the ship that "did the Kessel Run in less than twelve parsecs"
On arrival we got speaking to two elderly ladies who where walking their dogs, they asked us if we knew what all the lorries going in and out where, we told them about the star wars thing and they replied, "How exciting" and wished us good luck. We found a hole in the outer fence left by a previous explorer.
Once inside the main fence we set about finding ways over the others. We managed to dodge security and end up with one fence to go before we scaled the back of the GAMA buildings when we heard "coooeee" " be careful security are driving round in a white van" we spun around to see the two dog walking old dears outside the main fence. Lol We thanked them and climbed the last fence.
With a quick sprint we where up the GAMA building and laying on the top to hide, this was it, just over the edge was a Star Wars geeks paradise! We commando crawled along the floor til we got to the edge. We peered over excited to see our childhood toys.
And....
It was all gone
We later found out we had missed it all by a few days
Still we had a great explore in a truly breath taking place
Hope you enjoy my pics, even though they are only taken on my I-phone
