I’m 73 and a grandmother. Fracking has turned me into an activist - Gillian Kelly

Gillian Kelly explains what motivates so many of us in this opinion piece for the Guardian Newspaper

Until last year I’d never been in a protest. Now I’m due in court for trying to stop this destructive industry ruining our landscape

I am a 73-year-old grandmother. On a sunny day in the middle of July I found myself sitting in the central reservation of the A583 outside Cuadrilla’s fracking site near Blackpool, one arm locked into a steel tube within a brightly coloured wooden box and surrounded by police. I was not alone. Locked into a neighbouring box was my partner, Paul, and my granddaughter, Megan. A few feet away my son, Sebastian, was also locked on, along with two other female friends.