TWINKLING tealights floated down a canal at Send to mark the 80th anniversary of nuclear weapons being used for the first time in war.
The little candles, in half grapefruit and orange skins, and white flowers were launched on the Wey Navigation by members of Woking Action for Peace and Woking Debates and members of the public.
Launching of the flickering flotilla was preceded by a ceremony on the towpath by the New Inn pub to mark the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.
“As dusk started to fall, we read poems and there were appropriate readings to remember the hundreds of thousands of people who died as result of the atomic weapons being dropped on Japan,” said group spokesman Keith Scott.
“It’s vital that people remember that terrible action and that the UK and several other countries have nuclear weapons that are 10 times more powerful that the bombs used 80 years ago.
“Indeed, our government is allowing US nuclear weapons to return the Lakenheath air base and buying new fighter jets that can carry nuclear bombs, as well as updating the capability of the submarines that carry our so-called nuclear deterrent.”
Woking Action Peace, the local branch of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, in co-operation with the Woking Debates committee, stages the commemoration each year on or near the anniversary of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings.
