Absence

I visited the place where we last met.
Nothing was changed, the gardens were well-tended,
The fountains sprayed their usual steady jet;
There was no sign that anything had ended
And nothing to instruct me to forget.

The thoughtless birds that shook out of the trees,
Singing an ecstasy I could not share,
Played cunning in my thoughts. Surely in these
Pleasures there could not be a pain to bear
Or any discord shake the level breeze.

It was because the place was just the same
That made your absence seem a savage force,
For under all the gentleness there came
An earthquake tremor: Fountain, birds and grass
Were shaken by my thinking of your name.

I have been out of the country for six weeks and only returned on Monday to learn about the terrible news that Janet had died. It is shocking and very hard to take in. I am thinking of you all and holding you in the Light.

Although I hadn’t seen Janet for several years I always felt that it was possible to ‘pick up’ where we left off. She was always there working away. She was an amazing woman - with a wonderful smile, humanity and energy. Her tireless work was an inspiration to me. The messages I have just read say much of what I feel about Janet.

I would have been at her funeral and the Memorial Meeting and am so sorry that I was prevented. I am so sorry.

With love and prayers

Lindis Percy

I am so sorry to learn of your loss. I had the opportunity to meet you about nine years ago when I spent the night at your home after the August bank holiday.

I knew Janet through my three years at the International Peace Bureau in Geneva in the mid- nineties. I always appreciated her hard work and attentiveness as a board member, which I knew came on top of many other duties. (I mailed her so often that I still remember your home address by heart!) I learned a lot from her. I also appreciated her kindness to me, always enjoying our chats after those long meetings.

I’m so glad I got to meet you, even briefly, and to spend time with Janet at the labyrinth and having tea in your lovely town. Those are the sweet little moments in life that matter the most.

I have always thought of Janet with fondness. As others have said, it’s hard to imagine such a vibrant woman leaving us so suddenly.

You’re a lovely family, and I wish you the very best.

Tracy Moavero
Washington, DC

I will be thinking of you tomorrow May 12 and of Janet. As I have said before, she was a good friend, caring and fun to be with. And I know she was very important to Jackie, both personally and in the work (as we said in the dedication for Nuclear Disorder and Cooperative Security). And of course to you Pamela. And to Xanthe. And to many, many others. She combined her practicality with a poetic and visionary dimension, and a deft touch in advocacy. I remember her telling me about the time she was asked to write “200 words” about Trident. So she compiled a list of appropriate words: appalling, horrific, etc.! I always read the yearly assessments she and Pamela prepared for Atomic Mirror on the state of abolition with admiration; they were highly creative and enjoyable to read. I remember too visiting you in Saffron Walden and walking the maze. And I remember being with Janet in Tahiti in January 2007; she was a trooper though the weather was not altogether agreeing with her. There are other memories too, and I’ll remember her tomorrow and think of you all. So love to you all - John

Making Dreams Come True
Janet Bloomfield 1953 - 2007
We’ve lost Janet – still young, still so active and yet she’s gone. Perhaps a commemoration of someone shouldn’t mention the shock and sadness, but it’s so much in our hearts, and Richard, Lucie and Robin you are in our thoughts – that just comes before anything else at the moment.

First Janet was a woman, a human being who loved the world. Then she was a campaigner who did things her way, she never seemed to come from any politically ideological corner. She listened to her heart. As a Quaker she seemed determined to enjoy and celebrate the world she wanted to save, especially savouring the international aspects of meeting people and making things work in a different way.

When I first met Janet, she had recently returned from a peace delegation to Hungary during the break up of the Eastern bloc. Her family was on holiday in Wales and we went swimming in the Afon Pysgotwr together. Good peace activities.
Later, when Chair of British CND Janet came to speak at some CND Cymru meetings – I remember one in particular, where we held a blowy protest against THORP on Aberystwyth Prom, then drove back across the Cambrian Mountains to Llandovery. We were colleagues and comrades.

One summer day in 1996, she and Pamela Meidell brought the Atomic Mirror Pilgrimage to our home in Carmarthenshire. I was with them for only a few hours but it was to be one of those indelible moments of special magic. The twelve pilgrims were en route to St. Davids. They brought with them gifts of sand from Hiroshima, an origami stork and other items from a previous peace pilgrimage to nuclear sites. We burnt candles. A film crew travelling with them interviewed my then 10 year old daughter Emily about when she had taken 250,000 Welsh signatures against French nuclear testing to the French Embassy earlier that year.
Last Summer I met up with Janet and Pamela (her soul sister if ever there was one) at the Hay Festival. We were making plans.
Janet, we’ll keep trying to make your dreams come true.
Listen to Janet, I hear her say – ‘look we don’t know what’s coming, time is short, do it now, don’t wait.’
Jill Gough
Janet was the chair of British CND (1993-96), a member of the Global Council of Abolition 2000 since 1997, international campaign co-ordinator of Abolition Now!, and a key figure in the Weapons of Mass Destruction Awareness Programme set up by Sir Joseph Rotblat.
To give and to read tributes to Janet, many paying much greater attention to Janet’s material achievements in the peace movement. See [http://janetbloomfield.com/main/]

Don’t mourn because you can see me no more,
I’m not far away, just behind that locked door.

If you hear your name as the wind ruffles your hair,
It’s me letting you know that I’m there.

If you see a shadow out the corner of your eye,
It’s me watching over you as I stand close by.

If it seems to much to bear now we’re apart,
I’m always right with you, just look in your heart

When the sun smiles from behind a cloud up above,
It’s me smiling down on you with all of my love.

So don’t mourn because you can see me no more,
I’m never far away, just behind that locked door.