Much-loved Mossley campaigner and activist to be remembered

A MOSSLEY woman who became a much-respected feminist, environmental campaigner and peace activist will be remembered following her death.

Christine Clark passed away in December at the age of 80.

In May, she stood for the Green Party in the Ashton Waterloo ward at the local elections for Tameside.

And her life and work will be honoured at a memorial meeting on Sunday, January 7 at 1pm at Mossley’s George Lawton Hall.

Growing up in the 1960s she was married and a mother at 18, but in later life Christine pursued her art degree and that hugely influenced her politics.

She said: “I wasn’t politically active until I was 37 and went to university as a mature student.

“I met so many people from different walks of life, including feminists. There was a brilliant library, I read Mary Wollstonecraft and Simone de Beauvoir.”

Christine’s father was a bus driver while her mum came from a farming background.

In the 1980s, she was involved with setting up the Tameside Well Women Group and took to the streets of Glossop demanding Wages for Housework. She was a member of the national Wages for Housework campaign.

Her women’s politics were at the forefront of her activity – locally, nationally, and internationally.

She took up the issue of nuclear weapons at the famed Greenham Common protest and travelled to Beijing in 1995 as a delegate to the International Women’s Conference, spending three weeks there.

Christine was active locally in the Green Party and stood for election on several occasions.

She challenged privatisation in the NHS through Tameside Keep Our NHS Public and opposed benefit cuts in Tameside Against the Cuts.

Speaking about her life, which saw her join the Green Party in 1999, Christine added: “I started listening to what was going on.

“Locally there was a group of women who started a Well Women’s group. I went to the first meeting and so many women turned up that we didn’t have enough chairs.

“There was a call in 1982 for people to go to Greenham Common. I went and just felt the power of women. It was revolutionary and I hadn’t seen anything like it.

“I have always believed in respecting the land and animals, that we should not pollute the environment and I was always interested in growing things. I got this from my mum and I think this was from her farming background.

“So much was hidden from women in the 1950s and 1960s and nowadays my daughters and granddaughters are so educated. They are educating me!”

Christine, who became a mother at the age of 18, was also a sister, grandmother and great grandmother. – and people are encouraged to attend the memorial meeting.

Her husband Mike said: “We would like all friends of Christine to join us to celebrate her life.”