By Val Weedon

The Right to Peace and Quiet Campaign was launched in May 1991. I had decided to start a campaign following a neighbour noise problem that had been so bad my husband Phil and I ended up moving house to escape the torment. Having a noisy neighbour was one of the worst experiences I’ve ever had. I became quite ill, suffering several bouts of shingles, which I believe was triggered by the stress. My neighbour played loud music and seem to have complete control over our lives. We were unable to relax in our own home. I was angry at what happened to us and wondered if other people had been through the same experience. I also believed the law was inadequate and that’s why I decided to start a campaign. 

I’d seen Spike on television a number of times speaking out against noise. One report claimed that Spike had taken a “pot shot” at his neighbour’s dog because it kept barking.  When the neighbour complained to Spike saying the dog was “only doing his natural thing”,  Spike said “Well, I was doing my natural thing in response!”  It is also claimed that he ripped a speaker from a lift that was playing background music. Although these stories may have been exaggerated I realised he disliked this type of anti social behaviour immensely.

So, Spike seemed an obvious choice to ask support for my campaign. My husband Phil is a freelance photographer and he’d met Spike some years previous at a local catholic church that Spike had been visiting. Spike had been invited to open a Bizarre at the church, but the church also held documents relating to his mother, so Spike asked Phil if he would copy them and send him prints. Phil was at the church to take photos of Spike for the local paper, but he was happy to copy the documents. 

Spike gave Phil his home address, so having this enabled me to make direct contact with him. I was then able to explain what had happened to us and why I wanted to start a campaign. A few days after sending the letter, Spike phoned me. He asked what I’d like him to do and, to be honest, I didn’t really know, only that I wanted his support.  So Spike suggested he become a patron of the campaign, which I’d named “The Right to Peace and Quiet”. He gave me his telephone number and said if I needed anything, just to call him. With this in mind I contacted the local paper and told them Spike was supporting my campaign. They asked if could get a picture of myself with Spike. So I phoned Spike who agreed and it was arranged for Phil and I go down to his house in Sussex the following Sunday morning at 11am.

We arrived at Spike’s house about 10.58am and went up to the door. We knocked, heard a number of bolts being unlocked and then Spike appeared.  He looked at us for a moment and said slightly irritated “you’re early!”  We apologised sheepishly and then Spike ushered us inside. Phil asked him if we could go into the garden to take the pictures. Spike quipped “Doesn’t your camera take pictures indoors?!” Feeling evermore nervous, Phil went onto explain that the light was better outside. We went outside to the front garden where Phil set the picture up he needed and started taking pictures. He managed to shoot about 16 frames before Spike brought the photosession to an end.

We said our goodbyes and got back in our car. My watch said 11.05am!  

Over the following few years I got to understand and sympathise with Spike at the intrusion he often felt when these sorts of demands were made on him. Alongside his comic nature and generosity of time he gave to the campaign I couldn’t complain.

The local paper was delighted with the photos of me and Spike and it went on the front page the following week. As a result I received hundreds of phone calls from people with a whole variety of noise problems. Some of them had been suffering for many years. It immediately struck me this was an issue likely to be of concern to a lot of people, so decided to launch my campaign nationally. The same photo was used by newspapers and magazines for many years to come and in return I received thousands of letters and phone calls from people all over the UK and even abroad.

Although Spike could be a difficult character to deal with sometimes he was an incredibly supportive patron. He attended a lot of our events and Press Conferences, most of them being held at the House of Commons. We could always guarantee a good attendance if Spike came along. And he always had an interesting quote for them. A reporter once asked him what he thought should be done to those people who made noise. Spike replied without hesitation “They should be shot, flattened and turned into bookmarks!” He could also be very passionate and serious. Once he told the press “Tonight, thousands of people around the country won’t get any sleep because of noise”.

In January 1992 Spike came to my house, which was also the campaign headquarters.  The visit was to do an interview for the tv documentary series World In Action, but it was also an opportunity to talk to him about our work and see the hundreds of letters I’d received.  He was very complimentary of the campaign during his interview saying: “I had suffered from the things the campaign stands for, Hi Fi music being played all hours, barking dogs. I moved twice, once in Finchley and in Barnet. The awful part is they lost a good neighbour. That’s why I became a patron. Val started this campaign. She’s a brave girl and I hope it succeeds.  Thoughout the world there are lunatics letting barking dogs run free or playing their music loudly. It makes people ill and distressed, it upsets neighbourhood balance completely.”

Following broadcast of the programme a senior government civil servant phoned and invited me to attend a meeting with Lord Strathclyde, Minister for the Environment. This meeting led to the setting up a government led Noise Forum that enabled campaigners to play a major role in the noise debate. I am convinced that would not have happened without the Spike being our patron and the publicity it created.

The campaign ran for 5 years between 1991 to 1996. We worked solidly during that time, all our time given voluntarily, with Spike’s support we devised all sorts of publicity events to raise awareness. But in turn we were receiving thousands of pleas for help, which we couldn’t sustain. So we  wound up the campaign to enable us to relaunch and concentrate on political campaigning rather than be a support group, which is what we’d become.

In appreciation of Spike’s contribution we sent him a crystal paper weight inscribed with his name, the dates and name of the campaign. Spike was unable to attend the presentation event we had planned for him, but he phoned me as soon as it arrived and was genuinely touched.

The Right to Peace and Quiet Campaign was not the only noise campaign he supported. He was also a patron to Pipedown, the Campaign for Freedom from Piped Music, which is still in existence today. Piped music was something that really enraged Spike. He would refuse to eat in any restaurant that had any background music. Getting celebrities to associate themselves with noise campaigns has always been an impossible task. Noise is seen as an unpopular issue, but Spike was never afraid to stand up for something he believed in. A journalist once asked him “aren’t you being a party pooper?” and Spike merely replied “Yes!”

In 1997 I was awarded an MBE for my services to the Right to Peace and Quiet Campaign, which I believe was largely due to Spike being involved.  He bought the issue of noise to the attention of the press and this led to it being firmly placed on the political agenda. 

I sent an invite to Spike to attend a celebration I had planned following the presentation of my MBE at Buckingham Palace. I didn’t expect him to come all the way from his home in Sussex to the pub in central London where I was celebrating with friends and family. But he did.   

I am still campaigning and now work with the UK Noise Association that was launched in the year 2000. I have never been able to find a suitable replacement for Spike. One of my valued possessions is Spike’s book  “Peace Work” which he signed “To Val, someone worth knowing, Love Spike.”

 

Val Weedon MBE
November 2004