Schools plant Peace Rosebush (From Free Press Series)

Schools plant Peace Rosebush

IT all started with a single seed that was flown out of France before the Nazis arrived

Now the Peace Rosebush has come to Torfaen schools to remind youngsters of the horrors of the holocaust and to stand in schoolyards as a symbol of peace.

The Peace Rosebush has been planted in school grounds across the borough as an anti-bullying symbol to mark Holocaust Memorial Day last Friday.

It has been organised by Torfaen's Standing Advisory Committee on Religious Education (SACRE) - a group comprising representatives of all faiths, that advises schools on teaching religious education.

Rosebushes will also be presented to Cwmbran Stadium, who hosted last year's 'Journey of Hope' exhibition, and to the Mayor of Torfaen to plant in the Civic Centre in Pontypool. Chair of SACRE, Councillor Mary Barnett visited Woodlands Infant School as they received their Peace Rosebush.

She said: "We have been out visiting children from nurseries right through to secondary schools. The Peace Rosebush was originally cultivated by a French man who put its seeds on the last aeroplane to leave Paris before the Nazis arrived in the Second World War. Since then it has been grown all over the world as a symbol of peace. In the assemblies we have talked of the importance of working for peace by refusing to allow bullying. In this way all children feel they have a part to play in achieving peace in the world."