In the weeks since zealous and unwavering environmentalist Pete Wilkinson passed away, his family have paid tribute to the loving husband and father he was behind the campaigning.
Pete Wilkinson initially thought that the conventional life was not for him.
Born in Deptford, south London, in 1946, the young Mr Wilkinson watched as many of his friends entered ordinary careers and took on mortgages, marriages and children.
Meanwhile, Mr Wilkinson’s 20s, 30s and 40s were spent masterminding protests, challenging the status quo and coming up with effective ways to influence government policy for the better.
Nobody was more surprised than him when, 60 years later, he found himself living in the idyllic Suffolk countryside with a wife, Gaye, and two daughters, Emily and Amy.
In East Anglia, Mr Wilkinson is perhaps best known for his work as chair of the action group Together Against Sizewell C (TASC), which continues to campaign against plans for the new £25 billion nuclear power station.
Mr Wilkinson had been an active and outspoken defender of the environment since his teen years; he co-founded the campaign group Friends of the Earth in the 1960s and was the co-founder and first director of Greenpeace UK.
During his life, he led seven voyages to the Antarctic, and one of his crowning achievements was successfully convincing the leaders of the Antarctic treaty nations, including then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, to declare the region a ‘world park’, effectively banning oil drilling indefinitely.
Some obituaries and tributes to Mr Wilkinson have remembered him for his anger towards those he felt used their power to inflict damage.
- PETE WILKINSON: ‘The Sizewell C plans are an insult to the people of Suffolk’
However, his family did not see him as angry; instead, they felt that he was filled with righteous indignation, said Mr Wilkinson’s wife of almost 25 years, Gaye.
“Pete was outraged at what people could do to the planet, and the decisions that governments and powerful people could make,” explained Mrs Wilkinson.
“It was also outrage that other people didn’t care as much as he did, and didn’t want to make the world a better place.”
She and Mr Wilkinson had moved to Peasenhall in 1998, tying the knot in 2000.
For their first date, the couple visited a Vincent Van Gogh exhibition at the National Gallery. The artist’s early depictions of people living in poverty particularly resonated with Mr Wilkinson, his wife remembered.
“He wasn't just an environmentalist; he was a socialist as well. He believed in looking after the weak, the vulnerable and the disenfranchised,” Mrs Wilkinson explained.
“Sparky” political discussions were had around the dinner table, right from when the couple’s daughters were children; Mr Wilkinson took great pride in his girls’ intelligence and imagination, and his determination to leave the world a better place was contagious.
“Pete was immensely proud of both of them,” said Mrs Wilkinson. “They grew up knowing that the ‘drip on a stone’ effect of campaigning is always important, and that if you don't stand up for the greater good, who will?
“They have grown up believing that you can make a change if you work hard enough at it – that people can make a difference, because they have seen their dad do it.”
Pete Wilkinson died on January 21, aged 78.
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