sundays, January 14, 1990 Sorth Store News

Grannies sing a song

IF THE thought of grandma still evokes idealistic memories

of hot cocoa and home baked cookies, knitting,

lace doilies

and a white-haired old dear, then the Raging Grannies are

sure to disillusion you.

The only thing the Raging
Grannies have carried over from
the granny of old is the costume.

The reason for their somewhat
Namboyant get up — a cross be-
tween a bag lady and a rummage
sale addict — is the attention it
gets them.

When the Victoria Raging
Grannies first protested two years
ago at the Esquimalt naval base,
they found they got little response.

“They would protest and they
would leaflet and nobody paid the
slightest attention, so they started
singing these songs and wearing
funny hats and they dressed in the
old fashioned clothes, sort of turn
of the century clothes, and they
got more and more outrageous in
their hats,’” says Doris McNab of
West Vancouver, the chairperson
of the grannies’ Vancouver
chapter.

And attention they did get. Since
then the Raging Grannies have
gathered force up to a point where
they’ve got about 50 members in
B.C. and groups across the coun-
try.

Founded by McNab almost two
years ago, the Vancouver group is
a band of 13 grannies, half of
whom live on the North Shore.

They’re a high profile and popu-
lar group, booked for ‘‘gigs’’ as
far ahead as June.

Once a week the grannies meet

By ELIZABETH COLLINGS

Reporter

to practise their songs, for which
they write their own lyrics or bor-
row from colleagues (except for a
song Environmental Watch's Terry
Jacks wrote for them).

But the attention they have got
from the media and the public
through their humorous songs and
colorful outfits has been something
of a mixed blessing.

Although the Raging Grannies
are often in the news and get a
huge response from their audience,
McNab admits it’s rare that people
take the time out to discover what
the group is about.

The grannies are old hands at
protesting, many belonging to
other lobby groups such as
Greenpeace or the Western Canada
Wilderness Committee.

**Most of the grannies have been
activisse and I think that’s almost
the key to .t rather than the sing-
ing. They jist happen to be able to
sing,’’ McNab says.

And at rresent, the Vancouver
group really are all grannies, rang-
ing in age ‘rom the mid 60s to 83,
although non-grannies have been
members in the past.

They hammer out the issues
theyll tackle at their weekly
See Grannies
Page 34

36” X 36”
pleated shade,
reg. from $102

Sale ends
Feb. 28/90

ZcUStOn

NEWS photo Mike Wakefield

BREAD,NOT bombs is the message from the Raging Grannies, says chairperson Doris McNab (far left). Pic-
tured here protesting tuition hikes at Capilane Caliege, the Vancouver Raging Grannies are part of a network of
Raging Granny groups throughout B.C. and across Canada.

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