Scottish Catholic Observer

Catholics in Scotland have been encouraged to join the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament commemorations tomorrow and Friday to mark the anniversary of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki nuclear attacks in 1945 at the end of the Second World War.

The anniversary of the August 6 nuclear bombing of Hiroshima in Japan (above left) will be commemorated at the Mound in Edinburgh between 6 and 7pm, and people are encouraged to bring friends, tributes, artwork and poems to the event.

In Glasgow, the group will meet at the gates of the Botanic Gardens at 6.30pm from where they will walk from the peace tree there to that of Kelvingrove Park.

There will be smaller events including a Peace Garden gathering in Paisley’s Barshaw Park and ceremonial peace lantern flotations held at the Fisherman’s Hut off the River Dee in Aberdeen and the Rhu Spit north of Helensburgh.

The anniversary of the Nagasaki bombing (above right) will be commemorated three days later with a Scottish CND Peace Cruise along the river Clyde that lasts for two hours and will include music and speakers. Tickets for the cruise cost £15 and those attending should assemble outside the Glasgow Science Centre at 6:30pm and book their place in advance.

Within the first two to four months of the bombings, the acute effects killed 90,000-166,000 people in Hiroshima and 60,000-80,000 in Nagasaki, with roughly half of the deaths in each city occurring on the first day.

The Catholic Church in Scotland opposes nuclear weapons and is active to this end in many groups including CND, Justice and Peace Scotland and Scottish Clergy Against Nuclear Arms (SCANA). Bishop Joseph Toal of Argyll and the Isles will be speaking at SCANA’s Summer Witness for Peace 2013 at noon on September 7 at the gate of Faslane Trident base.

—For more information on the Scottish CND cruise, contact Flavia on 0141 357 1529 or by e-mail to [email protected]

— For information on Scottish Clergy Against Nuclear Arms, visit http://www.scana.org.uk/ or call 0141 357 1529.

—Contact Justice and Peace Scotland at 0141 333 0238 or e-mail [email protected].