Memorial event supports disability groups and refugees

Published: 12:00, 22 February 2020

An event to mark Holocaust Memorial Day (HMD) in Cambridge raised almost £1,000 for a disability charity.

Drama pupils at Coleridge school performing their piece from the Holocaust memorial event at the Guildhall with around them some of the recipients of the money raised at the event. Picture: Keith Heppell. (28963454)

The message at this year’s event, held at the Cambridge Corn Exchange on January 26, was ‘Stand Together’ – a theme that was taken to city schools as children took part in workshops with the poet, Michael Rosen, historian Helen Weinstein, and the holocaust survivor, Eva Clarke.

The event included new pieces by Mr Rosen as well as songs, readings and drama involving schoolchildren, interspersed by survivor testimonies.

Helen, who is also artistic director of Cambridge HMD, said: “I am thrilled we raised £962.42 and so proud of the school students from Cambridge Academic Partnership and the primaries that they wanted to take action and raise funds for refugees and for those with disabilities in Cambridge. It shows how moved and inspired the audience were that they gave so generously.”

As well as the Holocaust, the day also recalls genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur as a reminder of what can happen if people do not stand together against persecution and prejudice.

Cambridge Andy Veale