Victims of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings were remembered at a ceremony to encourage people to “work harder for peace”.

More than 60 people attended Victoria Park, in Ballards Lane, Finchley, to mark the 69th anniversary since the atomic bombs were dropped on the two Japanese cities.

They gathered at the memorial plaque next to the Hiroshima tree, which was planted in the park 30 years ago.

The annual vigil was organised by Gardi Vaswani, a member of District Peace Campaign in Finchley, and was attended by Mayor of Barnet Councillor Hugh Rayner.

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During the event, people shared poignant poems and sang the Pete Seegar song ‘where have all the flowers gone’.

Mrs Vaswani said: “People are spending billions of pounds on nuclear weapons and so I feel we need to remember what happened in Japan.

“We don’t want anything like this to happen again, so memorial services help bring people together.

“It’s a challenge to work hard for peace, but when people come together it’s a start.”