Preston remembers the holocaust in moving service

The annual event, led by Father Timothy Lipscomb, vicar of Preston, featured religious leaders from different faiths, mayors from across the county, school children, and representatives from UCLan, the police, the forces and councils.

The service invites people to remember the communities that suffered as a result of the Holocaust, the Second World War, and other tragedies worldwide.

This year, the message of Holocaust Memorial Day 2017 was ‘How can life go on?’ And father Timothy said: “The day was really well attended with people from all different parts of the community. Principal of Preston’s Olive School Majid Ditta had his children write some poems and comments which were really very sweet.

“Some of the things they said were really nice. The principal them did a reflection piece and we also had the Polish standard at the front as we spoke about the liberation of Auschwitz and then we lit some of the candles.

“We need to remind people of the horrors of genocide. The genocides of the past, now and those in the future.”

Speaking from her Preston home, Lady Milena Grenfell Baines, a holocaust survivor who escaped the Nazis as a young girl, explained the importance of the service being held every year.

She said: “We have to keep it going so that no-one ever forgets what happened. It happened all over the world and at lots of different times, not just in 1939. These services across the country are in memory of all the people that died in lots of different ‘holocausts’ over the years.

A well attended Holocaust memorial event was also held at Astley Park in Chorley on Saturday.