A WOMAN whose late husband lost three generations of his family in wars is using her home to protest against an attack on Iraq.

Hilary de Birch has displayed a huge banner from the roof of her house bearing the message "War No! War No!"

Her husband, Fred, who died in 1980, lost his grandfather, Major Fred de Birch, at Gallipoli in 1916.

His great-grandfather, Major Harry Holwell Birch, died in the Afghan War in 1879, and his great-great grandfather, Major Fred Birch, died in the Indian Mutiny in 1857. Mr de Birch's father was injured in the last war.

Mrs de Birch, of South Shields, South Tyneside, said: "I would have had a message painted across the roof if I could, but I had to settle for a banner.

"It is a very personal protest, which may seem selfish, but I know how war affects families. War creates widows who are left to bring up their children without fathers."

Her daughter Mary, 24, who recently moved to London, took part in the peace march in the capital last month.

Mrs de Birch said: "Someone said it wouldn't make a difference, but all those people in London made a huge difference."