Remembrance Day event for Peace

Friends Meeting House on Ship Street is hosting a Remembrance Day event for peace on Sunday 8 November, from 1.30pm to 2.30pm. It's a quiet, focused afternoon that runs through poetry readings and a vigil, and then moves out of the building for a White Peace Poppy wreath laying at the War Memorial at 2.45pm. If you're around the city that Sunday, it's an easy one to drop into.

The afternoon centres on the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, or WILPF. They were founded during the First World War and have spent the century since opposing war and working on its causes, while campaigning for human rights, climate justice and disarmament. The poetry readings and the vigil are built around that work, so the whole thing is less about a specific anniversary and more about the ongoing conversation around peace and disarmament.

The second half takes place outdoors. After the session at the Meeting House, there's a short vigil and the laying of a White Peace Poppy wreath at the War Memorial, which starts at 2.45pm. The white poppy is a well-known symbol of peace and a commitment to prevent future conflict, and seeing it laid at the memorial gives the whole afternoon a concrete, public conclusion.

The organisers describe it as an event for anyone interested in rejecting 'the glorification of war' and promoting peace. It's a broad invitation, so you don't need to be a member of any particular group to turn up. The first part runs from 1.30pm to 2.30pm at Friends Meeting House on Ship Street, followed by the vigil and the wreath laying at the War Memorial at 2.45pm.