Women march for peace

Press, 25 May 1984, Page 4

Women march for peace

PA Auckland A group of Waiheki Island women and children carrying balloons, raincoats and a box stuffed with messages of peace left Auckland yesterday to walk to Wellington. A representative of the group, Ms Susan Henderson, said members of the Waiheke Women’s Peace Group had decided to walk to Wellington as a way of making their voices heard by decision-makers. During their estimated six-week walk, they would promote a nuclear-free independent Pacific and try to raise public awareness of the arms race. Instead of asking people to sign a petition, they were

collecting messages of peace in a big box. The messages, which included photographs, poems and letters from people such as the Mayor of Auckland, Mrs Cath Tizard, would be sewn to a banner. This would be presented at a parliamentary reception to which 10 embassies, including those of the United States and the Soviet Union, had been invited. Ms Henderson said she expected that hundreds and maybe thousands of people would join the walkers on the way through the North Island. The children, whose ages ranged from three to nine, would walk when and if thev wanted to.