Join Exeter Quakers and Exeter CND for a socially distanced peace vigil at the Exeter Peace Tree in Southernhay, opposite the United Reform Church, exactly 75 years since the second atomic bomb was dropped on the Japanese city of Nagasaki.
The atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki on 6th and 9th August 1945 killed up to a quarter of a million people, half instantly leaving shadows of some people etched on the ground. Ever since they have been a reminder of the immorality of nuclear weapons.
The vigil will take place in front of the Japanese Cherry Tree planted by the Lord Mayor of Exeter in February 2005 to mark Exeter joining mayors of towns and cities around the world, including 90 in the UK, to declare a commitment to work for a nuclear free world. The organisation, based in Hiroshima, declares:
‘We pledge to make every effort to create an inter-city solidarity, transcending national boundaries and ideological differences, in order to achieve the total abolition of nuclear weapons and avert the recurrence of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki tragedies.’
As Quakers we hold working for peace as one of our core testimonies and have been prominent in the peace movement in Britain and around the world.
The event will be introduced by Exeter Quaker Laura Conyngham, who will recall her powerful visit to Hiroshima and Nagasaki. She will say:
‘ While I was at the tomb, a group of citizens asked me to lay a bouquet for a photograph to illustrate a guidebook for tourists. I felt utterly guilty.’
For further information please contact Ian Martin on 07980 301058 or Laura Conyngham on 01363 773000
Southernhay West
Exeter
EX1 1UA