TODAY marks 75 years since the world’s first atomic bomb was dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima.

To commemorate this event the Salisbury Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) group would usually hold an annual candle float along the River Avon on August 6, witnessed by around 200 people.

The float also acknowledges the victims of a second nuclear bomb, on the city of Nagasaki, just three days later. According to Salisbury CND this was a different, stronger bomb used by the US air force, and caused 40,000 casualties, rising eventually to 140,000.

This year the tribute was halted as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdown, so Salisbury CND organised a smaller, social distanced version of the candle float on another part of the Avon.

This commemorative moment was filmed so it could be experienced by all from the comfort of their homes today.

Watch the video below:

Salisbury CND hopes that the video “will emphasise that lethal nuclear weapons are still with us, and represent a threat to the citizens of south Wiltshire and the rest of the world”.

A letter from the current mayor of Hiroshima, read on the film, reminds residents of the survivors of his city, the hibakusha, and the mental scars on his people to this day.

Part of the letter said: “It is an honour and a pleasure to send this message on the occasion of the Hiroshima Day Candle Float.

“We must never dismiss the atomic bombings and the war as mere events of the past.

“More than 13,000 nuclear warheads still remain around the world, and nuclear disarmament is at a standstill. No one else should suffer as we have.

“I would like to ask all of you to mobilise with us and strive to eliminate the absolute evil that is nuclear weapons to realise lasting world peace.”

For more information visit cndsalisbury.org.uk