Oldham to mark Holocaust Memorial Day 2018

Candle

Oldham will commemorate Holocaust Memorial Day (HMD) with various services across the borough this weekend.

The annual events are a time for people to pause and remember the millions who lost their lives, or whose lives have been changed, during the Holocaust and subsequent genocides.

Oldham Hulme Grammar School will be hosting a special tree planting ceremony on Friday 26 January from 10.45am. Services in Crompton and Saddleworth will take place the following day – Saturday 27 January, the official date for HMD. The first will be at the Crompton War Memorial at 9.30am before the Saddleworth Peace Group’s service takes place at Uppermill Square from 1.50pm.

Oldham Council’s main event will be on Monday 29 January from 9.30am at The Oldham Academy North in Royton. The event is themed around ‘The Power of Words and will be opened by The Mayor of Oldham, Councillor Shadab Qumer, before presentations and reflections by pupils from The Oldham Academy North and Oldham Youth Council.

The event has been organised in partnership with The Oldham Academy North and Oldham Interfaith Forum.

If you would like to attend, contact Anthony Booth by email:

Anthony.Booth@Oldham.gov.uk

Councillor Barbara Brownridge, Cabinet Member for Neighbourhoods and Cooperatives, said: “Holocaust Memorial Day gives us an opportunity to remember the millions of people who were killed in one of worst atrocities in history and subsequent genocides.

“It is also a day to stand by those who survived these horrific events. Through this we have the opportunity to reaffirm our commitment to opposing prejudice, discrimination and racism wherever it occurs.”

The first Holocaust Memorial Day was held in January 2001 and has since taken place annually. The chosen date is the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz concentration camp by the Soviet Union in 1945.