Growing up during World War II, she recalled how anxious her parents were for the safety of their children during bombing raids which killed numerous friends and family.
In September 1981, Helen John joined a 100 mile march from Cardiff to Newbury to protest at the siting of ninety-four nuclear missiles at RAF Greenham Common airbase.
When she left home to join the march, her five children, the youngest of them being only three and a half years old, were to be looked after by her husband.
Dissatisfied with the lack of publicity when the march arrived at Greenham RAF base, she decided she would live at the peace camp full-time, with several other women.
In 1994 she helped set up a new women’s camp in Yorkshire at RAF Menwith Hill which housed a US eavesdropping operation run by the US National Security Agency.
Her use of non-violent direct action was in part designed to attract the attention of the media and politicians - for instance, standing against Tony Blair for the Sedgefield constituency in the 2001 and 2005 general elections, her campaign conducted from behind bars due to her conviction on charges of criminal damage.
[8] In 2010, at the age of 73, she was arrested for writing anti-Trident slogans on Edinburgh’s high court building; she refused to pay a fine and spent three weeks in prison.