Holocaust Memorial Day marked by service in Bury St Edmunds

A service to remember victims of the Holocaust and genocides across the world took place this morning with a special tree planting immediately after.

The service was held in Bury St Edmunds by St Edmundsbury Cathedral in the Peace Garden within the Abbey Gardens.

Canon Matthew Vernon and the Rev Sarah Geileskey led the proceedings.

This year's memorial day service had the theme 'Light in the Darkness' - the same as the virtual service which took place the year before.

To all those that gathered, Canon Vernon said: "It's great to come together from all sorts of backgrounds and traditions.

"Some of us practise religion in different ways, some of us not - we're all united together here to honour, remember and commemorate Holocaust Memorial Day.

"We can celebrate diversity and that is one of the ways that we challenge prejudice and by celebrating our different traditions and different lives," he added.

Choirs from King Edward VI School, County Upper, and Guildhall Feoffment CP School were also in attendance, while Margaret Marks and Mike Chester were among local councillors who read the Statement of Commitment.

Among those who attended was 75-year-old Brian Bell, of Bury St Edmunds, who is of Jewish heritage.

He said: "My paternal family came from Kiev where a lot of Jewish people were killed by the Nazis in one day - that's my connection to the Holocaust.

"It's important that people try and remember what happened so that these sorts of things never happen again."

After the service, a sycamore tree was planted over the bridge in the Abbey Gardens by Alex Jarrett, of Stowmarket, whose grandmother died in Theresienstadt in 1942.

The Holocaust Memorial services have been held in the Memorial Peace Garden ever since January 27 2001.