Friends House, London, is to host a major exhibition to mark the sixty-fifth anniversary of the bombing of two Japanese cities with nuclear weapons during the second world war. The exhibition, which marks the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, will be available from 2 to 12 August. All events, which include A-bomb photo panels, A-bomb artefacts and an A-bomb survivor testimony are free of charge. No prior registration is needed.
Quaker Peace & Social Witness assistant general secretary, Marigold Bentley, said the exhibition is timely given the current debate surrounding the future of Britain’s Trident nuclear deterrent. The exhibition is funded by Britain Yearly Meeting, CND and the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. She said: ‘I think it’s an auspicious time to be hosting this exhibition because the UK nuclear weapons capacity – Trident – continues to be in the public eye. This exhibition is a reminder as to why we must continue campaigning against nuclear weapons.’

Christopher Wood of CND added that the exhibition, entitled ‘After the Bomb Dropped: How Hiroshima and Nagasaki suffered’, will underline the reasons for opposing nuclear weapons. He continued: ‘The exhibition will poignantly explore the devastation wreaked by nuclear weapons on human populations. When we see the catastrophic devastation caused by nuclear weapons the prospect of maintaining a Trident system that would allow for the possibility of such weapons to be used again seems absurd.’

Marigold Bentley added that one major aim of the exhibition will be to enlighten the young. She said: ‘I would really like people to bring young people. Young people are not taught about Hiroshima and Nagasaki in school. This is an opportunity for them to get a sense of the horror of nuclear war and why we should never do it again.’