Peace Group Commemorates Hiroshima Day with Flowers and Lanterns at Hollingworth Lake

One of the lanterns and some of the messages they carried

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Rochdale and Littleborough Peace Group marked the 62nd anniversary of the dropping of the first atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima in 1945 with a quiet but moving ceremony at Hollingworth Lake on Sunday evening.

They scattered flowers and floated lanterns on the surface of the lake in memory of those who have died in wars and shared readings which highlighted the suffering of all those affected by them. They called on the government to decommission all nuclear weapons and to scrap plans to upgrade the UK component of the Trident nuclear weapons system.

Rae Street who visited Japan in 2005 explained: “Like thousands of peace groups throughout the world, we float lanterns each year on the anniversary of the bombing. We do so in memory of the thousands who drowned in the Hiroshima River, in 1945 and as a symbol of our determination to create a better future. When they plunged into the water, the victims of the first atomic bomb were attempting to find some respite for their burning bodies. Their deaths were horrific and unnecessary, thinking about them reminds us of the full horror of all war and of nuclear weapons, in particular.”

“I watched thousands of lanterns float down the river in Hiroshima on the 60th anniversary of the attack on Hiroshima. I found this an extremely moving experience, which made me even more determined to do all I can to rid the world of nuclear weapons. Similarly, the flowers and petals are scattered in memory of the dead and, like the lights in the lanterns, also, provide a symbol of hope for the future; the hope that together we can build a peaceful nuclear-free world.”