Coventry young people promote peace for the future

The young people were invited along with representatives from 10 other European countries to take part in The International Youth Conference for Peace in the Future.  Volgograd (formerly Stalingrad) is one of Coventry's 26 twin cities and the first ever international twinning link formed in 1944.  Twinning began after the Second World War as a way of promoting reconciliation and friendship. 

During the conference Lucy Ryan (Cardinal Newman), Amy Handy (Cardinal Newman) and Elliot Jenkins (Westwood), all aged 17, took part in a series of presentations including, 'what Coventry does for peace', an evening of national culture where Lucy did a ballet dance to the song 'River flows in you' by Yiruma, and lastly 'The postcard of Coventry' where they talked about and described the city of Coventry.  Elliot also participated in the 'pie of peace' event, where he joined one member of each country's delegation in creating a pie. 

The young people also met Natalia Kulishenko, author of the first ever Russian biography of Queen Elizabeth II, titled 'Becoming Queen' and were given a copy of her book to give to the Mayor of Coventry as a gift.

Speaking on behalf on the trio, Amy Handy commented:  "Going to Volgograd was an amazing experience for all of us. The peace conference taught us the importance of international friendship, leaving us with the message that if we have friends in all countries, there can be no wars."

The conference was held during August so participants could participate in a minute of silence on August 23rd to commemorate the last day of the battle of Stalingrad.