Eighty years is a long time. It takes us back to World War Two in 1945, with VE and VJ Day on May 8 and August 15, respectively.

Many of us will have watched commemorations. And we have seen images of our parents’ and grandparents’ generation going through it all.

Some of us in Woking took part in a commemoration in Send to remember the dropping of Atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Between 150,000 to 250,000 civilians were killed. It was the only use of nuclear bombs in armed conflict and they were small in comparison to the 27,000 in today’s arsenals.

Poems were recited, interfaith prayers for peace were said and we sang Dylan’s ‘Blowing in the wind’. Then most poignantly, flowers and candles of remembrance in grapefruit skins were floated on the Wey at twilight.

The event was organised by Woking Action for Peace.

So many institutions and movements for Peace were set up after WWII, so that humankind would not repeat the mistakes of the past.

But so many of these instruments of peace are now being dismantled and the Doomsday Clock moves ever closer to Midnight. We must ‘pursue the things that make for peace’. The alternatives are calamitous.