Annual Hiroshima and Nagasaki Commemorative Candle Float held

It was all part of all annual Candle Float organised by Salisbury Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. 

As well as the lanterns, 200 candles were also sent down the river from the bridge on Bridge Street in the city centre. It took place as dusk fell on Sunday August 6.

Salisbury’s Mayor for Peace, Cllr Atiqul Hoque, attended the entire event, talking to people on the crowded riverbank, and expressed his desire to invite local schoolchildren to experience the powerful impact and special poignancy of the parade of lanterns and lights.

Salisbury Mayor Cllr Atiqul Hoque attended the entire event (Image: Salisbury Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament)

Salisbury Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament hold their annual event to remember the US nuclear bombs that devastated Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan on August 6 and 8 1945.

It has staged a candle float for 40 years in Salisbury to acknowledge all victims of the nuclear cycle from uranium mining to nuclear bomb production and testing.

A spokesperson for Salisbury CND said: “We were privileged to have a letter from the Mayor of Hiroshima supporting our event.

"We very much value our links with Hiroshima, both with the Mayor, their peace campaigners and the school students who went to so much trouble to decorate lanterns for us”. 

Hiroshima and Nagasaki Commemorative Candle Float. Picture by Donald Capewell (Image: Donald Capewell)

All lanterns and candles are recovered from the river after the event.