Calls for West Sussex to be made a nuclear free zone made at Nagasaki gathering in Worthing

Supporters decorated the dedicated Peace Tree in the park with paper cranes, to indicate a wish for peace in a world free from nuclear weapons, and Robb Johnson led a rousing chorus of his song We All Said Stop The War.

The singer-songwriter also gave a moving performance of his song No Time to Say Goodbye, about the impact of war on innocent civilians.

Veteran peace campaigner Rebecca Johnson read out the words Suzuki Shiro, mayor of Nagasaki, wrote in the Nagasaki Peace Declaration: "The atomic bomb that exploded over Nagasaki at 11.02 on the morning of August 9, 1945, stole the lives of 74,000 people by the end of the year. The hibakusha who survived developed leukemia, cancer and other diseases years and decades after the bombing.”

He appealed to leaders of nuclear states and countries under the nuclear umbrella: "Now is the time to show courage and make the decision to break free from nuclear deterrence. I ask that you move steadily along the path to abolishing nuclear weapons through dialogue, not confrontation..."

Rebecca explained that a joint C7 Communiqué issued a statement in Hiroshima in May, while the G7 were meeting, calling for all the world’s nuclear weapons to be eliminated no later than 2045, 100 years after the first atomic bombs were used on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. She ended by singing a song for Nagasaki in Japanese and in English.

Odul Bozkurt, councillor for Worthing's Central Ward, read a statement from her colleague, West Sussex county councillor Caroline Baxter: "War leads to death, destruction and displacement. Atomic war leads to catastrophic humanitarian and environmental destruction on an incomprehensible scale.

"Nuclear weapons put us all at risk. Atomic peace is fragile, never so fragile as today and that is where local decision making can play its part.

"At a local level, as councillors and elected officials, we can seek to reject nuclear arms and associated trades. We can put the discussion at the top of our agenda and in the hands of local decision makers, urging and lobbying government to accept the dangers of nuclear weapons and our aims for peace.

"The UN Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons came into international law in January 2021. We must declare support for the treaty which prohibits the development, testing and use of nuclear weapons.

"Towns and cities across the world are signing up to join the ban to make their place a nuclear free zone. Cities such as Oxford, Leeds, Leicester, Hastings, Brighton and Hove have signed up, joining 26 other towns and cities in the UK to pledge their support for the nuclear ban.

"I would like to see this pledge reflected in Worthing and across the county of West Sussex and will do all I can to bring this to council."