ARTWORK by a group of Silsden and Skipton women will feature at the official Holocaust Memorial Day ceremony in London next month.

The commemorative artwork by the Crafty Ladies will be part of a national exhibition marking the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau.

The group's book, Flames of Remembrance, was selected by a distinguished panel of judges. It is one of 75 memorial flames chosen to represent each year since the liberation of the death camp.

These will be displayed at an exhibition which is set to be unveiled at the UK Ceremony for Holocaust Memorial Day in London on January 27, due to be attended by numerous VIPs.

More than 300 groups from across the country registered to take part in the nationwide competition launched by the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust (HMDT) to encourage more people to remember the six million Jews murdered during the Holocaust.

The theme of the Holocaust Memorial Day commemorations in 2020 is Stand Together, which became the Crafty Ladies' inspiration to get involved in the project.

Group spokesman Sue Drysdale said: "We are all concerned that the world is becoming more divided and unequal, and that such division can be the first step on the road to hatred and intolerance.

"This is a road that was travelled to the extreme in Nazi Germany, and we must never allow ourselves to go back there."

The panellists judging the competition were: Sarah Donaldson, arts editor at the Observer; Nick Sharratt, renowned illustrator and author; Kathleen Soriano, chairman of the Liverpool Biennial, and judge on SkyArts Artist of the Year; Anita Peleg, HMDT trustee and daughter of Naomi Blake, a sculptor and Holocaust survivor; and Olivia Marks-Woldman, chief executive of the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust.

The HMDT said Holocaust Remembrance Day encouraged remembrance in a world scarred by genocide.

As well as honouring the six million Jews murdered during the Holocaust, which took place during the Second World War, the day remembers millions of other people killed under Nazi Persecution and in subsequent genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur.

January 27 next year marks the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest Nazi death camp.

The HMDT said: "The Holocaust threatened the fabric of civilisation, and genocide must still be resisted every day. Our world often feels fragile and vulnerable and we cannot be complacent. Even in the UK, prejudice and the language of hatred must be challenged by us all.

"Holocaust Memorial Day is for everyone. Each year across the UK, thousands of people come together to learn more about the past and take action to create a safer future. We know they learn more, empathise more and do more.

"Together we bear witness for those who endured genocide, and honour the survivors and all those whose lives were changed beyond recognition."