Events
Hiroshima Remembered 2025
On Wednesday 6th August, 80 years since the first Atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, London Region CND will come together for our annual commemoration in Tavistock Square.
Programme
Choir - Raised Voices
Welcome
Hannah Kemp-Welch, Vice-Chair London CND
Councillor Eddie Hanson - Mayor of Camden
Planting the tree
History of the cherry tree - Bernard Miller
Memorial
Laying of the wreath - Councillor Eddie Hanson
Chanting - Rev Nagase
Speeches
Councillor Emma Dent-Coad, London CND Vice-President
Murad Qureshi, London CND Vice-President
Cultural responses
Michael Mears, performance
Jan Woolf, reading
Hugh Goodacre, singing
Close
Carol Turner, Chair London CND - London CND announcements
Shigeo Kobayashi, Japanese Against Nuclear - Nagasaki Day announcement
Thanks - Hannah Kemp-Welch
Choir - Raised Voices
2024 Doomsday Clock Announcement
A message from Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists as they prepare to set the Doomsday Clock for 2024 :
The Doomsday Clock is a design that warns the public about how close we are to destroying our world with dangerous technologies of our own making. It is a metaphor, a reminder of the perils we must address if we are to survive on the planet.
Each year, the Clock is set by the Bulletin’s Science and Security Board, a group of internationally recognized experts on nuclear risk, climate change, disruptive technologies, and biosecurity.
Right now, the Clock is the closest it has ever been at 90 seconds to midnight.
What will they set the Clock at this year? Join the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists on January 23rd at 3pm GMT to find out.
Watch live on the Bulletin's website, YouTube channel, or Facebook page.
London CND AGM
Please join London CND’s Annual General Meeting to decide on the campaign for the year ahead!
Who can attend?
Anyone who is a national member of CND living in London
Anyone who makes a regular payment to London CND
Anyone who is a member of a local group in the Greater London area
If you have any questions, please contact info@londoncnd.org
![The Mistake [Play]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/595e193c36e5d38c3baa8e18/1669631346649-2JFM4WY66U34M95YVE70/b1ae5bfb31bf93cd9d9075183f6854f8.jpg)
The Mistake [Play]
One of the successes at last year’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and following a sell-out run in London earlier this year, this urgent new play by Michael Mears explores the events surrounding the catastrophic ‘mistake’ that launched our nuclear age.
Michael Mears and Japanese performer Riko Nakazono enact the compelling stories of a brilliant Hungarian scientist, a daring American pilot and a devoted Japanese daughter, in a fast-moving, thought-provoking drama about the dangers that arise when humans dare to unlock the awesome power of nature. Unlike the recent OPPENHEIMER film, THE MISTAKE puts the Japanese experience of the atomic bombings front and centre.
It will be playing for two nights at Sands Films, Rotherhithe, on October 26th and 27th. Click here for more info https://www.sandsfilms.co.uk/sands-films-music-room.html
It will be touring to 28 other venues in England and Wales this September and October – click here for more info on the tour https://michaelmears.org/tour-dates-for-the-mistake/
Thurs 26th, 7.30pm - London, Sands Films Studios, Rotherhithe, St Marychurch Street, SE16 4HZ + ONLINE
Fri 27th, 7.30pm - London, Sands Films Studios, Rotherhithe, St Marychurch Street, SE16 4HZ + ONLINE
Instead of fixed price tickets, performances are supported by donations (suggested price: £7.50)
1942. On a squash court in Chicago a dazzling scientific experiment takes place, which three years later will destroy a city and change the world – forever. Through the lives of a brilliant Hungarian scientist, a daring American pilot and a devoted Japanese daughter, this fast-moving, compelling drama confronts the dangers that arise when humans dare to unlock the awesome power of nature.
★★★★ ‘The past comes alive - a gripping piece of storytelling.’ (THE TIMES)
★★★★★ ‘I was genuinely blown away by this production. A dramatic treat.’ (UK THEATRE WEB)
★★★★ ‘A powerful examination of humanity in the wake of Hiroshima.’ (THE LIST)
Protest Tory Party Conference - Peace bloc
Join CND on the first of October at the national demonstration at the Tory party conference this year in Manchester to share our Wages not Weapons message!
There is a coach hired to Manchester leaving Lewisham in the morning and returning that same evening. Click the link below to join the Anti-War block at the national demonstration.
Peace One Day
Bromley Borough CND is organising an event at the friends meeting house to mark the International Peace Day. Please head down for films, poetry, music, and speeches in recognition of the UN calling a global ceasefire day. Ticketless event.
Stop the Arms Fair Days of Action
DSEI – one of the world’s largest arms fairs – returns to London in September 2023. Want to stop the arms fair? Get involved with the Stop the Arms Fair campaign.
Each day of the week of action there will be talks, music, art, workshops, actions and more.
More information to follow, but see the Stop the Arms Fair website for more details or contact resistDSEI@protonmail.com
Nagasaki Day Peace Walk - Nipponzan Myohoji, JAN-UK and Paxchristi (Copy)
Nipponzan Myohoji, JAN-UK and Pax Christi are organizing a Peace Walk on Nagasaki Day, Tuesday 9th August 2021. The ceremony will open with an ecumenical service and follow with a walk, congregating at Westminster Cathedral and walking towards Battersea Park. After arriving at the Peace Pagoda in the park, there will be a short commemoration ceremony.
Nagasaki Day picnic in Chinbrook Meadows
Join the Lewisham and Greenwich CND Nagasaki Day picnic in Chinbrook Meadows, at 1PM.
Organized by Lewisham and Greenwich CND
Wimbledon Hiroshima Commemoration
This year is the 78th anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Please join us on Saturday 6 August 2022 at 8.30pm at Rushmere pond on Wimbledon Common (near the War Memorial) for our simple ceremony of poetry, quiet reflection and music followed by a simple ceremony of launching lighted boats in the Japanese tradition.
Organised by the Wimbledon Disarmament Coalition.
Kingston CND Hiroshima Commemoration
Join Kingston Peace Council/CND for a silent vigil to commemorate the nuclear bombings of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Saturday 6 August
12 to 2pm, near the Bentalls Centre entrance
As in the last three years we shall be holding a vigil with boards and leaflets in the town centre. We would welcome helpers to hold the boards and give out leaflets.
For any queries please contact 020 8898 4850 or email hilarymevans@btinternet.com
8pm Canbury Gardens, Kingston
In the evening we shall hold our usual candlelit commemoration by the river in Canbury Gardens (near the bandstand). The Mayor, Cllr Diane White, & consort, Jonathan White, have accepted an invitation to attend.
Please bring white flowers to float on the river, plus lanterns to line the path.
For any queries please contact 020 8898 4850 or email hilarymevans@btinternet.com
London CND Hiroshima Commemoration
Hiroshima Remembered 2023
London CND will host a Hiroshima commemoration event in Tavistock Square, London at 12PM on Hiroshima Day.
Speakers include Councillor Nazma Rahman, Mayor of Camden, Roger McKenzie, Councillor Emma Dent-Coad and Jeremy Corbyn MP.
12:00 Choir - Raised Voices
12:05 Welcome
Hannah Kemp-Welch, Co-Chair London CND
Councillor Nazma Rahman - Mayor of Camden
12:15 Memorial
Laying of the wreath - Councillor Nazma Rahman
Chanting - Rev Negase
12:20 Speeches
Roger McKenzie, Vice President of Liberation and International Editor of the Morning Star, former Unison Deputy General Secretary
Councillor Emma Dent-Coad
Jeremy Corbyn MP
12:40 Cultural responses
Michael Mears & Riko Nakazono perform an extract from ‘The Mistake’
Hugh Goodachre plays guitar
12:50 Close
Carol Turner, Co-Chair London CND - London CND announcements
Shigeo Kobayashi, Japanese Against Nuclear - Nagasaki Day announcement
Thanks - Hannah Kemp-Welch
12:55 Choir - Raised Voices
Please get in touch with Julie at info@londoncnd.org if you have any queries.
Bromley Borough CND - Hiroshima Vigil
August 6th 12- 3pm
We will meet opposite the Churchill Theatre, Bromley. We will be leafleting, lighting candles and present peace cranes.
Finchley CND Hiroshima Remembrance Ceremony
The commemoration will take place on Saturday 5th August, 11am in Finchley Victoria Park, Ballards Lane near the Cafe. Everyone is welcome.
Contact for the day: Gardi - 02084456312
'Oppenheimer' + Q&A with Kate Hudson & Guy Westwell
This film shows the way nuclear weapons began. We are right now shaping the way nuclear weapons will end. Whether you’re a biopic enthusiast wondering about its representation in a Hollywood blockbuster, a raging peace activist or a just interested in the chat, come and watch 'Oppenheimer' with the London Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament!
We’ll open the screening with a few pointers from the head of the Films Studies department at Queen Mary University, Guy Westwell. He is a specialist of Hollywood war film and anti-war film, so we will be in good hands.
The screening will be followed by an informal Q&A with Guy and Kate Hudson, the general secretary of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. By profession a historian, Kate is a key figure in the anti-war movement nationally and internationally.
Please note - this film contains sequences of flickering or flashing lights that may affect viewers with photosensitive epilepsy
Stop the Drift to Armageddon: No US Nukes in Britain, No to Nato
Join the Lewisham and Greenwich CND public meeting at Friends Meeting House, Blackheath.
Stop the Drift to Armageddon
NO US NUKES IN BRITAIN. NO TO NATO
-The existential threat of a nuclear war between NATO and Russia must be eliminated. Between them, they have around 12,000 nuclear weapons between them—some 100 times the power of the Hiroshima bomb.
-US nuclear weapons look set to return to RAF Lakenheath, a base in the UK that is run by the US. Their return will only increase global tensions and put Britain on the frontline in a NATO/Russia war.
--The return of US nuclear weapons to Britain – along with the upgrading of its nuclear weapons across Europe – constitutes a further undermining of prospects for global peace. The US is the only country to locate its nuclear weapons outside its own borders and this major increase in NATO’s capacity to wage nuclear war in Europe is dangerously destabilising and must be opposed.
-The US drive for global domination through military influence was most notable in Afghanistan. NATO assumed control of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan in 2003, marking NATO’s first deployment outside Europe or North America. NATO only withdrew its troops from Afghanistan in 2021.
-The rebalancing of US foreign policy towards Asia launched by former US President Obama has undoubtedly shaped NATO policy too, raising tensions and helping to militarise the Asia-Pacific region, a part of the world with four nuclear weapon states – India, Pakistan, China and North Korea.
-CND believes that a vital step towards global nuclear disarmament would be achieved with the removal of all US nuclear weapons from European bases, including a firm commitment not to base them at RAF Lakenheath. Britain should withdraw from NATO, and all foreign military bases on British soil should be closed.
Organized by Lewisham and Greenwich CND
CND stall at Blackheath Farmers’ Market
Join the CND stall at Blackheath Farmers’ Market at 10 am on Sunday 9th July!
Organized by Lewisham and Greenwich CND
CND stall at St. Alfege’s Greenwich
Join the CND stall at St. Alfege’s Greenwich at 11 am on Saturday 8th July!
Organized by Lewisham and Greenwich CND
Memorial concert for Bruce Kent
The Justice & Peace groups is organising a concert in memory of Bruce Kent on Sunday 11th June in St Mellitus Church.
Come along!
A Celebration of the Life of Maisie Carter
We would like you to join us for a celebration of the life of
Maisie Carter
1927 – 2023
Saturday 10 th June 2023
2.00pm – 5pm
At Wimbledon Village Lecture Hall
26 Lingfield Road
London SW19 4QD
At Maisie’s request:
Funeral: NO
Service: NO
Party: YES YES YES
Dress: casual
RSVP
Mick: carterlandscape@blueyonder.co.uk
Tel 07973 257650
Concert in Memory of Bruce Kent
Musicians for peace and disarmament
Date/time: Thursday 25 May 2023 7:30pm
Venue: St James's Piccadilly, 197 Piccadilly, London, W1J 9LL
Orchestral concert conducted by MPD Patron Jane Glover DBE celebrating the life and work of Bruce Kent. This concert is presented jointly by MPD, CND, MAW and Pax Christi.
Prokofiev Symphony No.1 Classical
Mozart Flute Concerto in D (soloist MPD Patron Wissam Boustany)
Haydn Symphony No.103 in E flat The Drumroll
Tickets: £20
Booking link: https://buytickets.at/mpd/878211
Stop US nukes coming to Lakenheath! – demonstration at RAF Lakenheath, Suffolk
20 May 2023
CND condemns the return of US nuclear weapons to RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk: join our demonstration to protest this extremely dangerous and destabilising development!
London CND is planning transport for London, you can book your tickets by following this link:
SILENT COUP Exhibition - Peter Kennard
You are invited to the book launch and exhibition preview of SILENT COUP 6.00 - 9.00pm, Thursday 18th May.
a/political presents a new body of work by Peter Kennard, based on the book SILENT COUP by investigative journalists Claire Provost and Matt Kennard to be launched at the preview.
The project marks father and son's first creative collaboration.
a/political, The Bacon Factory, 6 Stannary Street, London SE11 4AA
The exhibition runs until July 1, 2023, Tues - Sun 10am - 6pm
“A highly revealing exposé of the hidden real world.”
Noam Chomsky, professor and activist
Opening 19th May 2023, a/political presents Silent Coup, a new body of work by British artist Peter Kennard (b. 1949), based on a revelatory new book of the same name by investigative journalists Claire Provost and Matt Kennard, launching concurrently. The project marks the father and son duo’s first creative collaboration.
Peter Kennard, a pioneer of photomontage, extends his visual language into new areas that physically encroach on the space of the viewer, developing his practice through sequencing images with the assistance of Nigel Brown programming a Raspberry Pi microcontroller. Recognised for his anti-war activism and involvement in major protest movements including the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, in this new body of work Kennard responds to complex issues including the unstoppable rise of global corporate power and the political interference of super-corporations in functioning democracies, who dictate how resources are allocated, territories are governed, and justice is defined.
“This new work is concerned with finding ways to show the rise of corporate power, how it encroaches into every pore of our being as well as the Earth itself. The work tries to rip through the veil of share price listings and corporate logos by showing the results of profit at all costs - poverty, war, state violence, climate catastrophe.” Peter Kennard
Double Exposure, meshes market data and flashing images to present a time-based photomontage that uncovers corporate profit normally hidden from sight. As visitors enter the space, they will encounter two long lines of printed newspapers that recount the day’s share prices. A montage of weaponry, climate breakdown and, war victims will be projected for a few seconds before moving on to another paper. Boardroom is a series of anonymous faces mounted on large-scale wooden boards salvaged from the East London streets around Kennard’s studio. Their mouths are replaced by projected logos of major corporations – Shell, BP, BAE Systems – that appear as gags stifling the voices of democracy.
“This is the biggest story of our time. The modern corporate form was invented in England in the 16th Century. Since then it has cannibalised the state that created it—and gone global. The visual form in our society has been colonised by the corporate public relations industry and advertising. What we see has been hijacked by profit-friendly imagery intended to maintain the ‘buying mood’. My Dad’s work claims back the form — and shows us how we’ve been lied to and deceived.” Matt Kennard
The book Silent Coup: How Corporations Overthrew Democracy, on which Peter’s response is based, is published by Bloomsbury Academic on the 4th of May. The volume is the result of investigative journalists Claire Provost and Matt Kennard’s reports from 25 countries around the world, and highlights the power grab that took place in the 20th century and made way for this new world order.
“Silent Coup: How Corporations Overthrew Democracy visualises the unseen mechanisms of power uncovered by the work of Matt Kennard and Claire Provost; a new era of colonialism where multinational corporations can sue governments for changing policy and enlist private armies to murder and torture populations. It reveals the corporate Utopia we are in today, energy companies are making billions in profit while people freeze in their homes and children can’t eat because of the cost of living crisis.” a/political
Free Palestine – End Apartheid: London demonstration
Join CND to mark the 75th anniversary of the Nakba – or Catastrophe – when over 750,000 Palestinians were forcibly removed from over 500 villages and cities in historic Palestine, never to return. The Nakba continues today. From Jerusalem to Gaza, via the Naqab, Israel continues its policy of human rights abuses, displacing and oppressing the indigenous Palestinian population. While Palestinians living in exile, uprooted by Israel, are denied their right of return, a right enshrined in international law.
The Palestinian people need our solidarity now more than ever.
The British government remains silent on Israel’s semi-clandestine nuclear status in the same way it remains silent about Palestinian human rights.
CND is calling on supporters to gather in London to mark the Nakba and to call for an end to Israel’s nuclear arsenal and human rights abuses.
Assemble 12 noon at BBC Portland Place, before setting off for a march and rally on Whitehall.
Click here to see transport options from across the country
Organised by: Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Stop the War Coalition, Palestinian Forum in Britain, Friends of Al- Aqsa, Muslim Association of Britain, Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.
Supported by Artists Union England, BFAWU, CWU, The MU, NEU, PCS, RMT, TSSA, UCU, UNISON, and Unite the Union.
For any queries please contact information@cnduk.org
CND supports XR action
Save the date!
CND will be supporting an XR action in London taking place from April 21st where we will be standing up for the planet and against nuclear weapons.
More information to follow, but with any queries in the meantime please contact information@cnduk.org
The Mistake [Play]
Michael Mear’s The Mistake is back at the Arcola Theatre!
The play went tremendously well at the Edinburgh Fringe, getting excellent reviews and wonderful audience feedback, as well as a couple of awards. It is now coming to the ARCOLA THEATRE, Dalston from April 18th to April 22nd, 7pm each evening, with a Saturday matinee on the 22nd April at 3pm.
1942. On a squash court in Chicago a dazzling scientific experiment takes place, which three years later will destroy a city and change the world – forever. Through the lives of a brilliant Hungarian scientist, a daring American pilot and a devoted Japanese daughter, this fast-moving, compelling drama confronts the dangers that arise when humans dare to unlock the awesome power of nature.
Stall at the Beans on Toast gig
London CND will be joining musician Beans on Toast at his gig at Lafayette (behind St Pancras Station) on Saturday 25 March 2023 at 19:00.
One year since the war in Ukraine began and with the Doomsday clock closer to midnight than ever before, the UK folk singer returns with a timely protest song that needs little explanation.
““Against the War is a protest song. It’s a song about peace written in a time of war. It wasn’t an easy song to write, but like everyone, the horrors of the Ukraine invasion have been at the forefront of my mind for the past year.””
Available on Bandcamp as a “pay what you feel” release, all proceeds from the sales of “Against The War” will go directly to the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (C.N.D.). A limited edition T-shirt will also be available from 24 February, with 20% of profits additionally to be donated to the C.N.D.
US Embassy Protest - No US Nukes In Britain
No to US nukes in Britain!
Tuesday, 21 March
5:30-7pm
US Embassy, Nine Elms Lane, London, SW11 7US
Speakers include: CND Vice Chair Sophie Bolt; Cllr Emma Dent-Coad; Mil Rai, Peace News Editor; Stop the War Chair Shelly Asquith; Junayd Islam, Cambridge Student CND; Sue Wright, Norwich CND Chair; Jess Barnard, Labour NEC member; and Rev Nagase, London Peace Pagoda.
Practical info
London CND friends and supporters are gathering in Nine Elms, south London to help get this message across. Join us outside the Embassy at Nine Elms Lane, SW11 7US (10 mins from Vauxhall rail and overground, 7 mins from Nine Elms tube).
We want to take up as much space as possible, so please bring:
banners
placards
flags
posters
And let’s make our voice heard!
The meeting point is indicated in red on the maps below. We’re also sharing a picture of the space and an itinerary on how to get there from Nine Elms tube station.
Some context
Londoners are playing our part in highlighting the unwelcome news that United States nukes are returning to Britain. We’ll be at the US Embassy in Vauxhall on Tuesday 21 March, 5.30 to 7pm to say thanks but no thanks – we don’t want these weapons of mass and indiscriminate destruction stationed on UK soil.
These nukes will be stationed 70 miles north of London at Lakenheath airbase in Suffolk. The US aircraft capable of delivering these nuclear bombs to their target around the world have already arrived at Lakenheath.
Very few Londoners are aware of this disquieting news. The UK government hope to keep the decision as quiet as possible, and the British media has obliged by paying it almost no attention.
Given the danger they pose to everyone living in Britain, this is nothing less than irresponsible.
Earlier this year, the hands of the Doomsday Clock were reset to 90 seconds to midnight. The world is closer to nuclear annihilation than ever before. US nukes in Britain paint a target on all our backs. We’ll be on the front line in any nuclear exchange.
Some inspiration from Bruce Kent
We honoured Bruce Kent’s death by planting a tree in Finsbury Park at the beginning of March, let’s do it again by alerting Londoner to the danger our government is putting us all in.
One of the last public acts of Bruce Kent before his death last year:
Save our Schools demonstration
On 15 March members of the National Education Union (NEU) will begin two days of strike action in their campaign to win a fully funded, above-inflation pay rise for teachers. They are asking supporters to join us on a demonstration to support this action.
As part of CND’s Wages not Weapons campaign, we will be joining the protest to highlight the government’s wrong priorities.
Assemble 12 noon in Hyde Park, near Speakers Corner, before marching to Trafalgar Square. Look out for CND’s yellow banner to join our bloc!
For any queries please contact information@cnduk.org
SOS NHS demonstration: End the Crisis, Support the Strikes
CND is a member of the SOS NHS campaign, as part of our Nurses not Nukes campaign highlighting the government’s wrong priorities. Join this national demonstration calling for action on the unprecedented crisis in the NHS and in support of NHS staff forced to take strike action.
This is also a moment ahead of the Spring Budget to bring people together around an issue that unites us all.
The demonstration will assemble at 12pm Midday, on Saturday 11 March, at the north-most end of Tottenham Court Road (Euston end) opposite Warren Street Underground Station NW1 3AA.
Click here for more information
For any queries, please contact campaigns@keepournhspublic.com