Imogen Makepeace
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Imogen Makepeace | |
|---|---|
| Occupation | Local politician |
| Known for | Mayor of Lewes, England; climate activist; peace and anti-nuclear activist |
Imogen Makepeace is an English climate change activist, a local politician, most recently as mayor of Lewes in East Sussex, a feminist, and a peace campaigner, having been a participant at the Greenham Common Women's Peace Camp in late 1982 and early 1983.
Little information is available about her early years, other than that she was a student in Brighton in 1982, studying catering. She later had three daughters and, objecting to the practice of women being given the surname of their fathers and husbands, gave her daughters the surname of "Makepeace". As this led to her being called "Mrs Makepeace" at the children's school she also adopted that surname.[1]
Peace activism
The protest against American nuclear-armed cruise missiles being based in RAF Greenham Common, near Newbury, Berkshire in England began with a march from Cardiff in Wales at the end of August 1981. On arrival, some of the marchers decided to form a permanent camp. Makepeace and some friends in Brighton began to pay regular weekend visits to Greenham, taking supplies for the campers with them. In October 1982 she decided to move to the camp. She recalled that there was always some sort of direct action in progress, such as trying to block access of vehicles including buses taking civilian staff to work. In an interview conducted in March 2022 she recalled that the camp was receiving mail from all over the world with messages of support.[1]
Makepeace was one of the approximately 25 women who broke into the base in the early morning of 1 January 1983 by climbing over the fence, covering the barbed wire with blankets. When they arrived at the missile silos they danced on top of them. She had thought that there was a good chance that they would have been shot. She was arrested and put in a single cell for several days, recalling the nasty and dehumanising treatment she received, particularly from female police officers.[1]
She left Greenham shortly after and returned to Brighton. In February 1983 she and others set up a peace camp on The Level in Brighton, one of several satellite camps around the country. They contrasted the tolerant policing in Brighton with the heavy-handed behaviour of the police at Greenham.[1][2]
Career
Makepeace was a student midwife between 1997 and 2000. Between 1992 and 2014 she ran The Beautiful Birth Centre, a business that hired heated and filtered birthing pools, and also prepared The Online Directory for all Birth Pool Hire and Sales. Between 2005 and 2010 she was a natal hypnotherapist. In November 2014 she began to work as a taxi driver.[3][4]