East Lancashire residents join together to remember horrors of Holocaust (From Lancashire Telegraph)

East Lancashire residents join together to remember horrors of Holocaust

9:17am Monday 26th January 2009 in Burnley

SPECIAL services were held in Blackburn and Burnley yesterday to remember the victims of the Holocaust — and those who still face oppression and torture in today’s society.

A multi-faith service was held at the Peace Garden, Croft Street, Burnley, where community groups gathered to speak of what it meant not to forget the injustices of the past.

Kitty Ussher, MP for Burnley, was among those who joined the Mayor of Burnley, Coun Ida Carmichael, to remember the victims of the Holocaust.

The service, led by the Rev Andy Williams, of Sion Baptist Church, honoured all the victims of the Holocaust.

It also asserted a commitment to oppose racism, anti-Semitism, victimisation and genocide.

Wreaths were laid during the service, which began at 2pm.

The Mayor, who read the council’s Declaration of Independence, was among those to lay a wreath.

Meanwhile, members of all faiths and cultures gathered at Blackburn Town Hall, which began with a short service on the town hall steps.

Blackburn with Darwen Interfaith Forum once again supported the ceremony, with the Forum's chair Derek Estill opening the ceremony and Rabbi Arnold Saunders giving the main address.

Multi-faith prayers were offered by a member of each of the different faiths represented on the forum before Mayor Coun Mohammed Khan gave a closing address and candles were then lit inside the building.

Holocaust memorial services are held each year on the nearest Sunday to National Holocaust Memorial Day on January 27 — the day Russian troops liberated Auschwitz concentration camp.