Tribute To Adrian Mitchell

Published on Tuesday December 23 2008

Members of the Woodcraft Folk will be deeply saddened to hear of the death of Adrian Mitchell, a dear friend of our organisation and a passionate exponent of the values of peace, equality, co-operation, and concern for the environment.

In 2006 Adrian wrote a special story for our Global Village international camp, and brought together a group of his friends who, together with a cast drawn from the camp, developed it into a massive, musical, open-air performance.

The Fear Brigade told the story of how a small girl, a lost dog and an old tramp faced up to the things which terrified them, built a Fear Engine, gathered a band of Fear Fighters together and set off to fight the fears of the world. Small fears are easily dealt with but they faced a tougher challenge when confronting the arms traders and war mongers who terrorise our planet.

Are you and your friends terrorists?
We're the opposite.
Terrorists use Fear.
We're Fear Fighters.
Do you have links with an alien government?
We don't have links with any government.
Governments use fear to fight fear
and violence to fight violence.
We use courage to fight fear.
We use peace to fight violence.
Like the elephant - strong and gentle.

Well, you're a gang,
like any city street gang.

No, those gangs use violence and fear.
They want everyone to be scared of them.
We want everybody to realise that they're all human
and we're all human.

Adrian - you taught us how fear creates the barrier to the peaceful world we want to build. You showed us how to conquer fear. And you sent us out to fight fear. The Fear Brigade now has thousands of members, young and old, and the Fear Engine will continue its journey, putting out fears wherever it finds them in the world. It still has much work to do, and your hand on the wheel will be greatly missed, but we'll keep on keeping on.

Adrian died on 20 December, of a heart attack, following two months of illness. We offer our deepest condolences to Celia and all his family (including, of course, Daisy, the dog of peace).

Julie Thorpe and Zoe Waterman

For more information on Adrian's life and work visit
www.bloodaxebooks.com.

We looked around the world
saw mothers crying
looked around the world
and saw poverty
looked around the world
saw babies dying
looked around the world
at war's cruelty

we said: no!
we're going to change the world
starting here
starting now
to the brave heart nothing is impossible
we're going to change the world
and we'll tell you how

we'll work
with all our brothers and sisters
work together like a fire brigade crew
we'll work
for a peaceful planet
yes! yes!
we've got work to do.

chorus
find out about it
think about it
organize
and do something about it -
keep on keeping on!

Adrian Mitchell
1932-2008