A “vigil of hope” for a nuclear-free world is being staged in Keighley.

The event – in Town Hall Square next Thursday, from 8-9am — marks the 64th anniversary of the dropping of the first atomic bombs on Hiroshima and, three days later, Nagasaki.

Keighley peace campaigner Sylvia Boyes said: “These bombs were very small compared to the weaponry deployed at the present time both by major nuclear parties the USA and Russia but also by nuclear weapons states of Great Britain, France, China, Israel, India and Pakistan. The continues to be the threat of nuclear destruction and this will be present as long as states maintain a nuclear capability.”

She added: “Governments of the world promised to abolish nuclear weapons in 1968, church leaders have stated that nuclear weapons are contrary to the teachings and life of Jesus and ordinary people all over the world continue to campaign for a nuclear-free world and an end to the scourge of war.”