AN ANNUAL commemoration of the first use of nuclear weapons in war is being livestreamed on the internet this year, rather than being held in public, because of COVID-19 restrictions.

Woking Action for Peace members usually stage a ceremony on the Wey Navigation towpath at Send, marking the destruction of two Japanese cities during the Second World War.

This year, the event will be held in the Muslim Burial Ground Peace Garden on Horsell Common, as dusk falls on Saturday evening.

A small group of members will follow self-distancing rules to read poems and other literature and play music before launching tealights in orange and grapefruit skins on the pond in the garden.

Like similar commemorations around the world, the event is held near to the anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima in August 1945, which was followed by Nagasaki being destroyed.

Woking Action for Peace is part of the Woking Debates organisation, which will show the ceremony on Zoom and Facebook from about 8pm.

“We usually have around 40 people joining in, and others watching from the nearby New Inn pub, as we launch tealights on the canal,” said group chairman Keith Scott. “We decided we had to continue with the tradition, despite the coronavirus.”

For details of timings and how to watch, see www.wokingdebates.com, visit the Woking Debates Facebook page or call Keith Scott on 01483 824980.