COMMUNITIES came together at Preston Minster for a special service to remember those who suffered under the Nazis during the Second World War.

The event, now in its fourth year, marked Holocaust Memorial Day and was one of many services to take place up and down the country.

Pupils from Holy Family Primary School, Whitby Avenue, Ingol, delivered messages of hope and the Royal Lawson piano trio played music written by Jewish composers from the last century.

Rabbi Reverend David Braunold lit a peace candle to remember all those who died during the war years and Preston Deputy Mayor, Councillor Jonathan Saksena, welcomed people to the service, the first of its kind at Preston Minster.

The evening was particularly poignant for one Preston woman.

Lady Milena Grenfell-Baines, 74, of West Cliff, was one of the last 80 children rescued from the clutches of the Nazis by businessman Nicholas Winton, sometimes referred to as the 'British Oscar Schindler'. He was responsible for the Kinders transport operation which carried children by train to safety and cared for more than 750 families.

Lady Grenfell-Baines was only nine years old when her parents were forced to put their daughter and her sister, Eva, three, on the last Kinders' train from Czechoslovakia.

"When I look at my grandchildren, the thought of having to leave them would be unbearable. It must have been terrible for my family."

Her parents managed to flee the country and were reunited with their daughters but the rest of her family were taken to concentration camps and never seen again.

Lady Grenfell-Baines was sent to a family in Ashton-Under-Lyne and attended the Czechoslovak School in Exile, Wales, before moving to Preston where she has lived for more than 50 years.

"So many dreadful things have happened since the Holocaust,"she said. "That's why it's so important we keep the children involved and tell them what's happened so they remember. After all, they will shape the future."

Hope for the future