Peace Group asks what Rochdale wants for Christmas

Peace campaigners: Pat Sanchez, Philip Gilligan and George Abendstern at the stall in Yorkshire Street

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Campaigners from Rochdale and Littleborough Peace Group donned Santa hats in Yorkshire Street on Saturday (13 December 2014) to ask shoppers what they really want for Christmas.

Their giant letter read: 'Dear Santa, We live in Rochdale and we have tried to be good this year. What we really want for Christmas is to know that the government will stop wasting £billions on the Trident nuclear weapons system and will start spending this money on.'

Individuals were invited to write their own suggestions on squares which they added to the board. Many focused on the health service, including requests for better hospital services in Rochdale, nurses and doctors.

Philip Gilligan, on behalf of the Peace Group, said: “Christmas shoppers in Yorkshire Street were very clear that they think that the £3billion which the government wastes every year on the Trident nuclear weapons system can be better spent on everything from better services for Alzheimers patients to allotments; an end to the bedroom tax to more midvives and from crossing ladies to better mental heath services and jobs for learning disabled people.

"They are angry that successive governments have continued to squander £billions on useless and dangerous nuclear weapons of mass destruction, but constantly divert scarce resources from the public services we all need.

"They want the Trident system decommissioned and they want the government to scrap plans to squander another £100billion on even more dangerous and expensive nuclear weapons. They want the money which could so easily be saved to be spent on the NHS, the jobs, the homes and the social and education services we need.”