by Sean Morris, member of the Leeds Justice & Peace Commission
As a country, remembering war anniversaries has become a key part of our history. It is how we do that which is something I have been involved in for many years. 2025 is another prominent year for anniversaries – the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War.
In January, we saw the moving ceremony at the Auschwitz camp as we remembered the devastating impact of the Holocaust. In May, towns and cities around the UK will be remembering VE Day and the end of the war in Europe. Lots of street parties no doubt, prominent and moving events around the terrible costs of the war may also take place, and thoughts of the challenging world we are in today will occur.
In August though, we will be considering the 80th anniversary of an event that still resonates as much now as it did then – the atomic weapon attacks on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the subsequent reminder of VJ Day.
From 1999 to 2021, I was heavily involved in the Mayors for Peace organisation, first as a Leeds City Council officer in what was then known as the Peace and Emergency Planning Unit, and then as a Manchester City Council officer where I was the lead officer for Mayors for Peace in the UK, with Manchester a Vice President of Mayors for Peace. This organisation was set up by the Mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1984 to bring towns and cities together to call for a more peaceful world free of nuclear weapons, at a time when a nuclear attack looked very possible. It now closing in on having 8,500 members in 166 countries.
In those years, I was responsible for organising an annual peace ceremony, first in Park Square in Leeds, and then in Manchester Peace Gardens or Manchester Museum, which would commemorate the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic weapon attacks. I was also immensely fortunate to visit Hiroshima and Nagasaki every 4 years for the Mayors for Peace Executive and General Conference and saw how important August 6th and August 9th is to the people of the two cities, and to Japan in general, where the annual peace ceremonies are shown live on television every year. Around 20,000 people take part in each ceremony, including hibakusha (A-bomb survivors), the Prime Minister of Japan, the Mayor of both cities and the Secretary General of the United Nations.
Talking about an attack that killed over 200,000 people is always challenging. Talking about it in a challenging narrative over Japan’s role in the war makes it more challenging still. Talking about it 80 years on to generations of people who were not present at the time means it is important to put it into context with the world we currently live in.
That is why the humble gingko seed can be so helpful in thinking about the futility of war, of the need for peace and of the importance of nature, God’s creation, in making us aware of our common humanity and how we need to try and preserve it, and the plants and animals we are privileged to share it with.
When the atomic bombs hit Hiroshima and Nagasaki, what was most notable was the immense devastation that took place. As well as the human consequences, it looked like everything had been completely destroyed. Those who had survived wondered aloud if their cities could, or should, be ever rebuilt. Many assumed nothing could grow in them for 70 years or more.
In spring 1946, the hibakusha in Hiroshima were amazed. Amongst a number of charred, blackened trees, green shoots of new life had suddenly sprung. People were overcome with emotion. Trees have a very spiritual role in Japanese culture – witness the popularity each spring of the beautiful ‘sakura’ cherry blossom season across Japan. These new shoots of life gave the people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki the confidence that they could rebuild their lives and their cities again. In both cities, the peace memorials are surrounded by trees in beautifully manicured parks.
Under the auspice of Mayors for Peace around the 70th anniversary of the attacks, the Mayor of Hiroshima instituted a programme of sharing seeds harvested from those mother trees as symbols of peace and regeneration. I received (in the post) twenty little gingko biloba seeds and thought through what to do with them. As I did a lot of work on climate change, with my colleagues we had the idea that we should make them a peace and climate project for local schoolchildren. Thus, ‘Project G’ was born. We encouraged young children to understand about what happened in Hiroshima and Nagasaki through art and poetry. Schools across the city received young trees (which were kindly grown for us at the Dunham Massey National Trust estate) and met with the Mayor of Hiroshima, met with survivors of the bomb, and met with children and grandchildren of the hibakusha as part of this project.
Gingko peace trees that originate from Hiroshima are now in towns and cities across the country. And now we have the chance to bring the issues of peace and climate to our dioceses in the spirit of Pope Francis’s ‘Laudato Si’. Working with Green Legacy Hiroshima, we now have a number of seeds growing in the beautiful ‘Laudato Si’ garden in the Salford Diocese, who will nurture them over the next few years. We want to engage with our schools and parishes to nurture interest in peace and climate across the dioceses of Leeds and Salford, using these important symbols of natural regeneration to embrace God’s creation and the need for peace within it.
We are working up an education and practical programme that will go with it, linking in with Pax Christi England and Wales, and we will be calling for parishes and schools to become involved in it shortly. We encourage you to consider getting involved with it. We can bring out the positive lessons of peace that Hiroshima and Nagasaki have dedicated themselves too as cities touched by the devastation of war. We know the importance of protecting our environment as Pope Francis taught us through Laudato Si.
Do stay connected with us as this exciting project develops for future news of how you can nurture peace and climate trees in the diocese. And think of hosting your own events to remember all those who are victims of war this August.