Messages of Peace and Opening Speeches at Coventry Cathedral
The importance of peace and reconciliation to Coventry and its links with Hiroshima was emphasised in the opening speech by the Honourable Lord Mayor Cllr John McNicholas, and Cities of Peace Schools Projects organisers Rebecca Bollands, Heidi Potter and Jannette Cheong, and the Dean of Coventry Cathedral, John Witcombe before he presented the Coventry ‘Cross of Nails’ to the city of Hiroshima.
This was accepted by His Excellency, Ambassador Hayashi from the Embassy of Japan in London who was attending the children’s Festival, together with his wife Madam Hayashi. Members of the Lord Mayor's Peace Committee and Coventry City councillors, including John Mutton, attended the event, and Ambassador Hayashi finished his opening speech with a presentation of a Certificate of Commendation to the Lord Mayor's Peace Committee for their peace and reconciliation work. This was received by Ruth Longoni who made the final opening speech.
You can hear all the speeches on the Lord Mayor’s Peace Committee website.
The Children’s Festival of Japanese Arts & Culture
The Coventry Young Ambassadors Festival of Japanese Arts & Culture took place throughout the morning of 2 July 2021 at Coventry Cathedral. After more than three years of work on a range of Japanese art, education and culture projects the children of Coventry shared this Festival of Arts & Culture with their supporters and peers!
Visitors were able to enjoy an exhibition of children’s work - a veritable feast of Japanese culture - including children contributing prints to the paper sculpture by artist, Hiroko Imada, and demonstrating the Art of the Tea Ceremony and Ikebana working with experts from Ganbare UK.
Coventry Young Ambassadors Three Cities of Peace Schools Projects
Examples and photographs of the children’s three Cities of Peace Schools Projects (2018-2021) were also viewed by visitors: Tanzaku peace poem cards (2018), masks and performances of noh-inspired poetic text (2019, and for the 2 July 2021 Festival), and, of course, photographs of the Coventry Young Ambassadors Japanese Peace Garden. This is the final project and the legacy of the three peace projects that came out of the schools’ work under the Between the Stones Project education and outreach programme (2018-2021). All three projects followed the theme: ‘from tragic loss to peace’.
The children linked these peace projects to their research on the history of Coventry and Hiroshima, including the moving account given by Keiko Ogura, a survivor of the WW2 Hiroshima bomb.
You can view the account of the Country Young Ambassadors Cities of Peace Schools Projects and short film of these projects here.
Coventry Young Ambassadors Islands of Peace Japanese Garden at the Coventry War Memorial Park
The long anticipated opening of the Coventry Young Ambassadors Islands of Peace Japanese Garden at the Coventry War Memorial Park - the last part and the legacy of the Cities of Peace Schools Projects - took place in the afternoon. The sun shone and it was a perfect day for the opening of the garden!
The afternoon’s activities began with a performance of Taiko drumming by pupils. This was followed the CYA Pupil Management Committee giving an account of how the garden came about and the pupils’ engagement with its creation, development and completion - including the planting of cherry trees leading up to the garden.
The support of so many!
Many of the Cities of Peace Schools Projects supporters and sponsors were also pleased to attend, including representatives from all of the major sponsoring partners such as: the Japanese Garden Society (Robert Ketchell, designer; Graham Hardman, project manager) and many of the JGS volunteers who helped to build the garden, colleagues from Coventry Country Council, Eurovia, Chiel Construction, Severn Water, and the many Between the Stones Project supporters including Mr Yoshinori Katayama, Managing Director of Mitsubishi Corporation International (Europe) Plc.
The Festival and many of the events, including the Coventry Young Ambassadors Cities of Peace Schools Projects 2018-2021, were part of the Japan-UK Season of Culture and also coincides with Coventry taking on the mantle of the UK City of Culture 2021.
Looking to the future - sowing the seeds for others
The Cities of Peace Schools Projects has inspired the UNESCO Associated Schools Projects Network (UNESCO ASPnet), and the National Coordinators from the UK and Japan are in discussion about a pilot project for more schools in the UK, Japan and possibly other countries, to undertake aspects of the Cities of Peace Schools work.
You can hear the Director of the UNESCO ASPnet, Julie Saito’s message to the Coventry Schools below.
Congratulations to all concerned - everyone had lovely day!
All of the photographs in this news update are courtesy of Andy Moore.