Young people across Chesterfield are hiding ‘Peace Rocks’ around the borough to help commemorate Holocaust Memorial Day 2025.
The Chesterfield Equality and Diversity Forum, supported by Chesterfield Borough Council, has been working closely with local schools and youth groups to commemorate the day and to help them to learn more about the sensitive issues in an age-appropriate way.
Each child has painted a stone with a picture or message which is meaningful to them, based on what they have learnt about the Holocaust, prejudice or peace.
The ‘Peace Rocks’ have then been taken home and placed in the local community for others to find. On the reverse of each stone is a link to the council’s webpage and it is hoped that upon finding a ‘Peace Rock’, members of the local community will visit the website so that they can learn more about Holocaust Memorial Day and also sign the online Book of Remembrance.
Anyone who finds a ‘Peace Rock’ in their local area can share their photo by posting it on the Chesterfield Borough Council Facebook page before placing it again in a new location for somebody else to find.
A Holocaust Memorial Day Book of Remembrance will be available for members of the public to sign in the reception area of Chesterfield Town Hall from Monday 13 January to Monday 3 February.
Alternatively, there is an an online Book of Remembrance.
Councillor Judy Staton, Chesterfield Borough Council’s cabinet member for governance, said: “Holocaust Memorial Day is an important opportunity for people across our community to pause, reflect and commit to working together to create a safer future.
“It is appropriate that the Chesterfield Equality and Diversity Forum is working with local school children as they are the ones who can help shape a future, where people are not suffering prejudice or persecution because of their faith, ethnicity or other characteristic.”
