At a special civic reception in Manchester Town Hall, the Lord Mayor of Manchester, Councillor Paul Murphy, led an event that commemorated the 35th anniversary of the signing of Manchester’s famous resolution declaring it a nuclear weapons free zone. The reception brought together councillors, Members of Parliament, Members of the European Parliament and a number of disarmament groups.
The Manchester resolution pre-dates the creation of Mayors for Peace and was instrumental in the formation of what became the UK and Ireland Nuclear Free Local Authorities (NFLA), which works on all nuclear policy issues and co-operates where relevant with Mayors for Peace.
Special guests at the reception were the Manchester MP Ken Eastham, whose idea helped bring about the resolution, and Marie and Brendan Risby, wife and son of the late Bill Risby, who proposed the November 1980 resolution. The current Lord Mayor was one of the councillors to second the resolution. A special ceremony where the Lord Mayor presented Ken Eastham and Marie Risby with copies of the 1980 resolution also took place. Amongst speeches given were messages of goodwill from the Mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the Deputy Mayor of the Environment for the City of Vienna, all of which Manchester cooperates with.
The event followed on from the 35th Annual General Meeting of the NFLA and councillors were in attendance from England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland. The Lord Mayor noted how proud he was to have been involved in the signing of the 1980 resolution and now, some 35 years later, to be a Vice President of the Mayors for Peace.
>Message from the Mayor of Hiroshima
>Message from the President of the National Council of Japan Nuclear Free Local Authorities
>Message from the Deputy Mayor for the Environment of the City of Vienna
(from left to right) new NFLA Chair Cllr Ernie Galsworthy, former Manchester MP Ken Eastham, Marie Risby (wife of the first NFLA Chair, the late Bill Risby)and the Lord Mayor of Manchester Cllr Paul Murphy
(Photo Courtesy of NFLA)