Celebration of peaceful spirit in east Leeds community

An east Leeds community will come together later this month to celebrate a milestone for a project that promotes hope and harmony.
The peace flame in Garforth's Diamond Jubilee Garden.The peace flame in Garforth's Diamond Jubilee Garden.
The peace flame in Garforth's Diamond Jubilee Garden.

England’s first permanent public World Peace Flame was lit in a ceremony at Garforth in Bloom’s Diamond Jubilee Garden in April last year.

And to mark the anniversary of the lighting, a special event is being held at Garforth Miners’ Welfare Hall on Saturday, April 28.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Starting at 2.30pm, it will feature readings and reflections from local schoolchildren on the subject of peace.

Garforth Community Choir will perform while there will also be a look back at how the town has embraced the spirit of the peace flame over the last 12 months.

The event will be followed by a walk to see the flame in the Diamond Jubilee Garden, where a new plaque will be unveiled.

Fiona Murray, a Garforth in Bloom volunteer who was one of the driving forces behind the town’s peace flame project, told the Yorkshire Evening Post: “We have been delighted by the response we have had since the original ceremony.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“We’re hoping that plenty of people will attend the event at the Miners’ Welfare Hall to help us spread the message of peace.”

The original World Peace Flame was lit in 1999 and is still burning in The Hague in the Netherlands.

Peace flame monuments also exist in countries including Wales, Belgium and Australia.

New peace flames are traditionally lit from existing flames connected, albeit sometimes by a chain of many different lightings, back to the original flame.

Funding for the Garforth project came from sources including Garforth in Bloom and the Garforth & District Lions Club.