Medway Hiroshima/Nagasaki 2008 event

Every year around Hiroshima Day we meet by the river in Chatham to remember victims of the atomic age. The victims may have started with the tests in Nevada, but they continue with people suffering to this day at nuclear locations around the world. Traditionally, our day is a very hot (as it was that day in Hiroshima), and our ceremony includes flowers laid on the Medway from Sun Pier. Last year we moved to the Riverside Gardens where we found the advantage of connecting with passing shoppers.

Unfortunately, Saturday August 9th 2008 - Nagasaki Day - had the WORST weather of the summer. Medway shoppers wisely stayed indoors. The stall idea was abandoned, and the wind so strong that the banner & display had to remain in the car.
 
But the rain abated just long enough for eleven of us to hold our ceremony. The Hiroshima message from Japan to the people of Kent (that we heard in Canterbury) was read out. (Last year we had a message from Australia). The flowers behaved well, considering the wind in our faces. The gathering also gave us an opportunity to catch up on the latest news from the Kingsnorth Climate Camp just ending on the other side of the river.
 
Well done everyone. See you there next year.