Thomas Ashton including Tameside SEND Arts Hub – Arts Activity – HMD 2026
Activity information
Activity type: Public activity
Organisation name: Thomas Ashton including Tameside SEND Arts Hub
Website: https://www.thomasashton.tameside.sch.uk/
Address:
Thomas Ashton School
Bennett Street,
Hyde
Tameside
SK14 4SS
United Kingdom
"Branches of memory, wings of peace"
INSTALLATION WILL BE AT THOMAS ASHTON SCHOOL ON 27.01.26 9AM-2.00PM
The theme for Holocaust Memorial Day (HMD) 2026, 'Bridging Generations', is a call-to-action. A reminder that the responsibility of remembrance doesn't end with the survivors - it lives on through their children, their grandchildren and through all of us.
Kim McDonough, Sarah Butler, Finlay Taylor and Staff at Thomas Ashton School uses the history of the Holocaust and genocides to help pupils in school to understand why qualities such as tolerance and acceptance of others are so important in us all.
This year we have been inspired by the artist Peter Walker and in particular his dove installation at Southwark Cathedral.
Together as an SEND Arts Hub including schools, Thomas Ashton, Hawthorns, Samuel Laycock, Oakdale, Safestart and The Lakes Care centre, co-ordinated by Tracy Webster Education Manager, Cultural Services, we came up with the idea to create an installation based on peace doves.
Of course the theme itself ‘Bridging Generations’ as educators lead us to story telling, we set about thinking about how we could create an installation that could include doves and link with the theme, we came up with the idea of a tree. We decided that a small twig should be attached to each dove, this twig will have a label on which will display a survivor‘s name. Each pupil/resident will be allocated a survivor.
Each school has a specific colour and the survivors name will be attached with a label using the relevant colour. Metaphorically speaking, the dove will carry the survivors story and tell it to the world.
Our starting point was finding a carpenter, who would be able to make a bespoke tree to display the doves. Nigel Thompson agreed to make our tree. Our project started to take form.
The doves were distributed and pupils were then asked to decorate it in their own way. These were then collected. Over 500 in total.
We also had residents take part from our local nursing home. 'The Lakes Care Centre’ in Dukinfield.
All the doves were re-collected and displayed on our bespoke tree, signifying memory and peace. Accompanying the tree is a sky backdrop, which also has doves on it this signifies freedom, some survivors feel a sense of freedom after telling their story. Also accompanying the tree is a book. This book includes the names of the pupils/residents from The Lakes Care Centre, their name, age and message. The book also includes names of survivors who are allocated to a pupil/ resident.
We also felt it was important to include a particular Holocaust survivor, Anne Super a remarkable lady, who Sarah Butler, Tracy Webster and I had the privilege of meeting last year.
We hope our children will understand how powerful stories can be and how sharing experiences encourages us all to engage actively with the past - to listen, to learn and to carry those lessons forward. By doing so, we build a bridge between memory and action, between history and hope for the future. It highlights the power of intergenerational dialogue, when we listen to those who came before us and of sharing those stories with those who come after.
In doing so, we don’t just preserve memory – we connect it to the present.
Organiser Name
Other organisation(s) involved
Hawthorns, Oakdale, Samuel Laycock, Thomas Ashton, Cromwell, Safestart, The Lakes Care Centre, Tameside Cultural Services