An iconic tree which began as a seed in Hiroshima was planted at a simple, poignant ceremony at Saddleworth School on Monday.
Year 10 students and school staff were joined by Cllr Pam Byrne, chair of Saddleworth Parish Council and a school governor, and Tore Naerland, president of Bike for Peace, to plant the tree.
Richard Outram, secretary of the UK/Ireland Mayors for Peace Chapter and Maria Ellis, chair and founder of Peace Talks Oldham brought the huckberry tree to the school.
It was originally a seed sent by the mayor of Hiroshima as a gift to Oldham because of its membership of Mayors for Peace.
Despite being near the centre of the blast, the seed was sourced and survived the atomic bombing of the city on August 6, 1945.
Saddleworth School was selected as the eighth school or college in Oldham to receive a tree because the school is a signatory of the Pledge to Peace.
Head girl Anya Wyatt and head boy Daniel Wood were the first to break ground in readiness to plant the tree and other Year 10 pupils showed willing with the shovel.
The ceremony was an opportunity for Tore, Richard and Maria to talk to the students and headteacher Mike Anderson and head of RE, Kate O’Connell, and Cllr Byrne to read an extract of poetry from Tore’s new book.
Tore, who hails from Stavanger, had travelled to Oldham for the event. Despite being almost totally blind from the age of 15, since 1978 he has toured the world by bicycle promoting the importance and necessity of peace as President of Bike for Peace.
This Norwegian-based campaigning organisation advocates for a world without nuclear weapons, peace and disarmament/and improvements to the lives of disabled people and measures to combat climate change.
Tore has visited 120 countries, including the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan.
Earlier this year he toured Northern England on a tandem meeting mayors of Leeds, Skipton, Carnforth, Preston, Rochdale and Bradford.
He cites Mahatma Gandhi and his advocacy of non-violence to achieve social change as one of his inspirations and impressed all present at the meeting with his energy, passion and commitment.
He urged the students to work for peace as the next generation, and in turn they asked him challenging questions.
Richard and Maria first visited the old Saddleworth School in 2017 for a signing ceremony, also attended by Cllr Byrne, when the school signed the Pledge to Peace.
On that occasion, Richard spoke of the provenance of the tree and Maria asked students to become youth peace ambassadors, an offer eagerly taken up.
Richard said: “Maria and I were delighted to be able to visit the new Saddleworth School, and have the opportunity to offer the school community this symbolic tree.
“The peace tree reminds us we must never again see the use of nuclear weapons in anger, the importance of working constantly for peace in our world, and ties of friendship that now exist between Hiroshima and Oldham.”
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here