Mayors for Peace members in the UK are welcome to take part in events held around a week of meetings and visits to the UK by a Hiroshima and a Nagasaki survivor of the August 1945 atomic weapon attack. The events are being organised by the Hiroshima A-bomb survivors group ‘Gensuikyo’ in cooperation with CND (Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament), Mayors for Peace, Religions for Peace, Parliamentary CND and the Scottish Parliament’s Cross-Party Group on Nuclear Weapons.
The two hibakusha are Reiko Yamada from Hiroshima and Midori Yamada from Nagasaki. Reiko was a young girl at the time of the bombings, whilst Midori is a second generation hibakusha. The two hibakusha (the survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki) are travelling around the world to share their stories and spread a message of peace.
They will be in the UK from 26th March – 1st April. They will first talk to some MPs in Parliament of their experiences of the Hiroshima atomic weapon attack and how it personally affected them and then to a special multi-faith meeting in London. The Japanese delegation will then travel up to Scotland for a meeting with the Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and a visit to the Scottish Parliament. They will also go on to visit the Faslane Peace Camp, close to the submarine base where Trident nuclear weapon submarines are located. The final part of their trip will include a meeting with the Deputy Lord Mayor of Manchester and invited guests at Manchester Town Hall to learn about Manchester’s ‘Project G’, a local educational project focused around the story of the ginkgo tree seeds provided to Manchester from Hiroshima. On the Friday and Saturday evening they will address public meetings at the People’s History Museum. The final day of the visit will also see the delegation visit Dunham Massey Hall and Gardens, a National Trust estate to the south of Manchester where the Hiroshima gingko tree seeds are growing. They will travel on a short distance to Oldham to meet the Mayor of Oldham and members of the Oldham ‘Pledge to Peace’ group and plant Hiroshima gingko tree seeds at a special ceremony in the town.
Full details of the trip will be emailed to all UK and Ireland Mayors for Peace members shortly by the Chapter Secretary, who are encouraged to participate in the events close to them. The Friday public meeting in Manchester is already sold out, but a few tickets are still available for the Saturday public meeting by registering at:
http://survivors-stories-saturday.eventbrite.co.uk/