AN event was held by the Mayor of Winchester to mark the 79th anniversary of the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and to advocate for world peace and nuclear disarmament.

To mark the anniversary, Cllr Russell Gordon-Smith hosted an event at Abbey House as part of the international Mayors for Peace initiative. 

The dropping of two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6 and August 9, 1945, marked the end of the Second World War, killing between 150,000 to 246,000 people and exposing the world to the destructive capability of nuclear weaponry.

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Martin Tod (Image: Contributed)

Mayors for Peace advocates for the complete disarmament of nuclear weapons, for safe and resilient communities and for a global culture of peace. The event was held to reflect on the past and look into the future with the promotion of a more peaceful and cooperative world.

Many officials were present at the event including Winchester’s new MP Danny Chambers, as well as 40 representatives from organisations, including  the city and county councils.

The event was characterised by a variety of  episodes, such as Eleanor Bell and Paul Williams’ reading of the Mayor of Hiroshima’s powerful Peace Declaration, which advocated world peace as well as the abolition of nuclear weapons. A film was also displayed, exposing the horrific impact of the Hiroshima bombing as well as the presentation of ginkgo tree saplings which grew from the seeds of trees that survived the bombing by Maurice James. To conclude, there was a display of Ukrainian culture, a poem from Julya Petruniak and a traditional song from Lala Smaglova.