From left to right: Paul Maddocks Chair, Zara Santana MP and Bishop Christopher Cocksworth

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Lord Mayor Kevin Maton and Roger Harrabin at the Annual Peace Lecture

The 2022 edition of Coventry Peace Trail

Lord Mayor, Lady Mayoress, Japanies Embassador and members of the Committee on Hiroshima Day

Coventry Lord Mayor’s Peace Lecture 2022

The Coventry Lord Mayor’s Committee of Peace and Reconciliation has worked for 42 years to promote peace and reconciliation with the City of Coventry, particularly through acts of witness that people of Coventry can be involved in.

Coventry City Council has adopted the vision “The City of Peace and Reconciliation” Coventry was City of Culture 2021 – one fifth of the application was “Peace and Reconciliation”. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO)’s largest project  promotes Peace and Reconciliation and Citizenship in 32,000 schools and colleges in 182 countries.

The committee has twenty-two volunteers who meet every two months to develop and deliver projects. Our chair is Paul Maddocks, Secretary is David Fish and Treasurer is Philip Brown.

Since 2016, the committee has designed and developed Coventry Peace Trail. Its third edition was printed in 2022. Linked to the peace trail is the renewal of signage for 27 peace sites in central Coventry. Paul, our chair has designed compelling and informative collective signs for the first six of the peace sites. See Image.

The committee continues to maintain a monthly e-newsletter and a website with reports of many activities of peace and reconciliation. The committee publishes books, our most successful being a reprint of “Ruined and Rebuilt” by Provost Howard.

The committee promotes several activities for school and college students, sometimes  annually, using poetry and art as media to promote peace and reconciliation.

In 2022, the peace committee strove to work with established organisations who promote peace and reconciliation. Many of Coventry’s faith groups and peace organisations are represented on the committee. The committee works with our Lord Mayor, Coventry City Council, Coventry Cathedral especially the ministry of reconciliation, Coventry University especially the Centre for Trust, Peace and Social Relations and United Nations Association Coventry Branch. In 2022, the committee supported Coventry City Council’s engagement with young people’s aspirations for the future. Coventry Holocaust Remembrance, Bedworth 11th November Remembrance, Coventry Peace Festival and The Rising Peace Conference. In Coventry Peace Festival 2022, there were thirty-four events of which the Peace Committee supported eleven.

In 2022, Coventry Peace Committee organised the public address about the Risk of Nuclear War by Bishop Christopher and Zara Sultana MP, a Sixth Form Conference “promoting peaceful schools”, Coventry Lord Mayor’s Peace Lecture 2022 given by Roger Harrabin and Coventry Hiroshima Remembrance. Ruth Longoni has established round table discussions to explore contributions Coventry might make to reducing the risk to the world by Nuclear Weapons. The discussions included Bishop Christopher and Prof Andrew Rigby.