‘As Quakers, you may wonder why we are involved in a place with strong links to the military.’

30 Jan 2020 | by Ruth and Peter Allen-Williams

Can Friends bring peace into the remembrance of war? Ruth and Peter Allen-Williams do just that at the International Bomber Command Centre

‘We hear many stories of people who suffered on both sides, but there are not enough about the acts of kindness and reconciliation.' | Photo: Courtesy of Ruth and Peter Allen-Williams.

In May 2015 Peter and I watched as a 102-foot steel spire appeared in a field at the end of our road near Lincoln. It was being erected as a memorial to the 58,000 named men and women who died during world war two while serving or supporting Royal Air Force Bomber Command, and also to the hundreds of thousands of innocent and unnamed civilians who suffered and died under the bombs dropped by participants in both sides of the conflict.

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