Report by Mr. Richard Outram, UK and Ireland Mayors for Peace Chapter Secretary
As part of the Golden Jubilee Conference to celebrate 50 years of Peace Studies at the University of Bradford (6-9 June), UK/Ireland Chapter Secretary Richard Outram travelled to the West Yorkshire city to plant a ginkgo sapling grown from a hibaku seed donated by the Mayor of Hiroshima. Bradford is a member of Mayors for Peace.
Richard graduated from the Peace Studies Department in 2021 and was delighted to return with the tree to his alma mater, which was fittingly planted in the Peace Garden there.
The sapling was the last of seventeen grown with the assistance of Oldham Council’s Parks Department, after the seeds were first planted by two hibakusha after an invitation by Oldham’s first Mayor of Peace, Councillor Derek Heffernan.
Fifteen of these saplings were planted in Oldham peace schools and parks. On the UN International Day of Peace 2023, another was planted by the Lord Mayor of Manchester Councillor Jasmine Dar in Heaton Park, Manchester.
Richard is a passionate advocate for the hibaku tree planting campaign. He was delighted to be able to visit the ginkgo mother tree in the Shukkeien Garden, Hiroshima when he worked with the Mayors for Peace Secretariat in January 2023.
Photos: courtesy of UK and Ireland Chapter