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Ceremony remembers the horror of nuclear bombs

FLICKERING candles were floated down a canal as dusk fell on the evening of Saturday August 12 as people remembered the hundreds of thousands who died when atomic bombs were used for the first time in war. Members of Woking Action for Peace and friends were commemorating the anniversary of nuclear weapons being used to destroy the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945. In a ceremony co-ordinated by the Woking Debates committee, tealights in half grapefruit and orange skins were launched on the Wey Navigation at Send, at a time when similar events were being held in Japan and around the world. Floating candles is a traditional Japanese ceremony used to commemorate the between 129,000 and 226,000 people when two bombs were dropped, killing mainly civilians. The ceremony is held annually on the towpath by the New Inn pub at Send. Woking Action for Peace is the local branch of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, which is involved in organising events held by Woking Debates. “This year’s ceremony was particularly topically because the recently released biopic film Oppenheimer suggests that dropping the atomic bombs was necessary to end the Second World War,” said Woking Debates chairman Keith Scott. “That’s not true, as pointed out by CND general secretary Kate Hudson. “Her latest blog reveals that, by the time the first bomb was ready for use, Japan was looking for ways to surrender. Even prominent military commanders like General Dwight Eisenhower said ‘it wasn’t necessary to hit them with awful thing’. “The then British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, said defeat of Japan was certain before the first bomb fell.” Around 25 people, including Knaphill county and borough councillor Saj Hussain, the current chairman of Surrey County Council, attended the ceremony. There were readings of Kate Hudson’s blog and poetry before the tealights were launched on the canal. “With Putin’s threat that he could use atomic bombs in Ukraine, and because the thousands of weapons that exist today are many times more powerful than the bombs that fell on Japan, we feel it’s important to continue reminding people of the horrors of nuclear weapons,” said Keith.

A performance by the excellent Journeyman Theatre on Saturday 17 June was the finale of the Woking Debates 2023 season. Breeding Grounds featured the characters Stewart and Ingrid, who have been together a long time but the fault lines in their relationship are getting ever more fragile. Ingrid sees life through the focus of her work as an agency carer and climate change activist, while Stewart is a back-bench MP. His perspectives are based on political pragmatism, hers on a sense of urgency and the belief that change must begin with each individual. Breeding Grounds explored the human response to sustainability, world population and the moral dilemmas that are now facing each and every one of us in our daily lives. And to which we have to find our own accommodating solutions in the face of what seems to many to be a state of political inertia. We aim to soon post a video of Breeding Grounds on our YouTube channel, along with recordings of other recent Debates sessions. The Woking Debates committee always welcomes suggestions for debate topics and activities. If you have any ideas we can develop, e-mail them to Keith Scott on keithsc_2000@yahoo.com.

Play concludes our season for 2023

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