As a member of the Hornsey Pensioners Action Group (HPAG) I am grateful to have the chance to learn about and take part in campaigns that will, I hope, result in older people’s issues being addressed.

I feel strongly about many issues and whilst the voice of protest is undoubtedly louder with greater numbers, I believe a one-person protest can also be effective.

Some years ago, I and a small child observed, on the walk home from school, many notices attached to both mature trees and young saplings with drawing pins, nails and metal staples. We wanted this damaging practice to stop.

Thus was born Tree Nutz, named by a friend on whom honorary membership was immediately bestowed.

The junior member prepared sticky labels with coloured felt tips reading, ‘Ouch, please don’t stick pins in me’, while a fourth member was ‘recruited’ based on his involvement in direct action or, as he describes it, unwitting complicity in removing pinned notices from trees on the walk home from the pub.

My role was to contact the mobile number on the notices and ask them to refrain from this behaviour in the future. Responses ranged from apologies to mild abuse to stunned silence.

Susan Critchlow has been campaigning for many yearsSusan Critchlow has been campaigning for many years (Image: HPAG) My latest beef is the increase in self-service checkouts in supermarkets, some stores offering no alternative to customers carrying out the scanning and packing of their shopping. It’s okay to choose this but not to lose the choice.

I also object to being filmed while doing it. Tynemouth’s ASDA, where I was recently a regular customer, has no serviced tills but now have several short films of the contortions of a person (me) avoiding the camera while scanning their shopping. Some strange looks from other customers but realising I was a southerner seemed to be explanation enough!

Which brings me to my latest campaign: I urge you to join me at the frontline.

All you need is a selection of supermarket cloth badges, pinning the appropriate one onto your clothing as you scan your shopping to indicate your new role as a member of the supermarket staff. Add to this your face mask with the words ‘I DO NOT WISH TO BE FILMED’ and you are ready to go.

Go on, you know you want to. As we said in the 1970s, ‘the personal is political’.