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The Oilman’s Wife’s Story

In 1974 there was a Transport Workers Union strike which seriously threatened a fledgling roofing business that my husband, Tony & I were slowly building. I quickly took up a barmaid’s job in a local hotel to put food on our table. One night an Oil Executive, who was staying at the hotel, asked me “What is a woman like you doing, working in a place like this?” – a standard chat-up line at the time…..

Upon hearing my explanation he slipped me his business card & said “If your husband can run about on a roof, he can work in North Sea oil” & I persuaded my husband to apply…. I even filled in the paperwork for him, he not being one for forms. Two weeks later, after a very quick “safety” course he was on a Sedco rig in the north sea for 2 weeks out of every 4, earning a small fortune & our business was saved.

He worked hard & rose through the ranks until he was sufficiently experienced to apply to BP – the best paying & best practice corporation operating in the North Sea. He was very proud of his achievements & truly believed that he was a hero for this country, risking his life every working day to bring in the oil.

Large salaries bring immense rewards & we lived well, our son went to a private school & I drove a Lancia sports car. We partied, we went to spas & we had wonderful holidays. Drink & drugs were very much a part of the oilman’s life leading to debauchery & eventually our divorce. We remained in contact, for the sake of our son but Tony’s health was beginning to deteriorate. At the time I thought it was the hedonistic lifestyle that was dragging him down, because I rarely saw him sober. When, after 8 years of grafting, he punched his boss & was summarily dismissed, I was horrified but again, I presumed that drink & drugs were responsible – too much money & competitive work ethics, I said to myself.

Tony started to lose a lot of weight, he returned to roofing but continued to drink heavily. That was in 1982. Every time I saw him after that he was looking rough. He visited often & complained of severe stomach upsets. He had relationships but they never lasted, he continued to work as hard as ever.

His health deteriorated so slowly that I didn’t realise how sick he was, neither did he, nor did his doctor. He gradually developed emphysema & became unable to work.

As the years went by, Oil Rig mates were getting cancer but none of us realised that it had anything to do with the work they had done in their youth. Eventually Tony also developed cancer & because his health was so heavily compromised from years of illness, no treatment could be attempted.

On 24th May 2013, skeletal & morphined out of reality, he finally took his last breath. My son was at his side, devastated because he lost his best mate, his Dad. I felt such a wierd mixture of feelings: relief that the pain was over for him, rage that he had died so young & a serious sense of loss & anguish that defies description.

In June, just a month after his passing, I heard about fracking & went to Balcombe to be part of the resistance. The people I met there lifted my spirits & gave me hope, they gave me friendship & shared their knowledge. The research I was absorbing hit me like a ton of bricks. I finally understood what had destroyed my marriage & what had broken Tony’s health so drastically.

I became cold like steel, determined to fight on his behalf & above all, to do everything in my power to bring the ghastly Oil business to its knees. I admit, I want to kill it DEAD. I admit I want to persuade every Oil worker in the whole world to walk away from that vile, poisonous business forever.

Still, to this day, they are kept completely in the dark about the chemical content of the drilling muds they use but, above all, they are NEVER informed about the radio-active returning solids & fluids that they are handling every day without protection. They don’t even think about the tons of filth that have been spilled into the seas & now that high pressure high volume fracturing has been rolled out onshore, they really haven’t a foggy clue that they have signed their own death warrant & consigned us all to suffer & die with them.

And worse, by far worse….. they don’t know that they are contributing to the destruction of this planet & ALL life upon it.

That is why we must win this battle against ecocide & defy the outright murder & boundless greed of Big Oil & Gas. 
That is why WE MUST LEAVE IT IN THE GROUND.

Frances Leader

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