Report by Mr. Richard Outram, UK & Ireland Mayors for Peace Chapter Secretary
Manchester held a Hiroshima Day commemorative event on 6 August in the new Peace Gardens in Lincoln Square. This was the first such event to be held here.
Over 40 participants joined the Lord Mayor of Manchester and Vice-President of Mayors for Peace, Councillor Donna Ludford, Mayors for Peace permanent representative, Councillor Eddy Newman and Chapter Secretary Richard Outram.
Richard presided over the event. Steve Roman, a guide of the Manchester Peace Trail, spoke about what happened in Hiroshima and Nagasaki on those fateful days of 6 and 9 August. The Lord Mayor laid a wreath after speaking about Manchester as a city of peace. A minute’s silence followed. Councillor Newman then read out the Mayor of Hiroshima’s annual declaration.
Qaisra, Rae, and Hazel from the Friends of the Peace Garden and Gerry from Peace Talks Manchester then movingly read out testaments from young hibakusha. Manchester MP Afzal Khan read a quotation from Dr. Martin Luther King. Anna Bunney from Manchester Museum spoke of plans to reopen the Hiroshima exhibition next year.
Fittingly, the event concluded after British atom bomb test veteran John Morris called for children to be educated about the impact of atomic bombs and testing.
Photos: courtesy of the City of Manchester