Exhibition to mark 40 years since the Nuclear Free Wales Declaration Visits Wrexham

The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament in Wales is marking the 40^th anniversary of the Nuclear Free Wales Declaration with an exhibition touring Wales.

The exhibition will visit locations in all eight of the County Councils that existed in 1982, with the first stop being at Glyndwr University in Wrexham.

Wales was declared ‘nuclear free’ on the 23^rd of February 1982 after all eight local authorities refused a UK Government instruction to draw up civil defence plans, including establishing nuclear bunkers.

In response, the Welsh local authorities passed resolutions declaring themselves ‘nuclear-free zones’.

Clwyd County Council, which included the current authorities of Flintshire, Wrexham, Denbighshire and Conwy, was the final council to pass a nuclear-free resolution on the 23^rd of February 1982.

As such, the Clwyd Declaration pronounced that “we are now in a position to proclaim to the world that the whole of Wales, through its democratically elected representatives, has declared itself a nuclear-free zone.”

The touring exhibition will include a display of a reprint of the Clwyd Declaration document as well as the original Nuclear Free Wales banner which was made in 1982 by Thalia and Ian Campbell to celebrate the occasion of Wales declaring itself nuclear-free.

Carolyn Thomas, the Flintshire-based Member of the Senedd for North Wales, visited the exhibition at Glyndwr University on Monday.

Speaking on her visit to the exhibition, Ms Thomas said: “With the escalation of nuclear-weapons rhetoric in relation to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, it is now more important than ever for us to reaffirm our commitment to a world without destructive nuclear weapons.

“This exhibition reflects the long-standing commitment of the Welsh people to peace. Moving forward, the peace movement will continue to make the case for the abolition of nuclear weapons.”

Ms Thomas has submitted a Statement of Opinion in the Senedd to mark the 40^th anniversary.

The statement ‘celebrates the statement of resistance made by the eight Welsh councils’ and ‘calls on all states to sign and ratify the United Nations Nuclear Ban Treaty’.

The Nuclear Ban Treaty, which came into force in January 2021, is the first legally binding international agreement to comprehensively prohibit nuclear weapons.

The treaty is currently supported by 130 countries at the United Nations, though currently none of the existing nuclear weapons states have signed the treaty.

Mary Jones, from CND Cymru, said: “Whilst nuclear weapons exist, we’re all living under threat of them being used.

This year, we are celebrating past campaigns which led to the historic signing of the Declaration, but importantly, we are campaigning today for counties, towns and cities across Wales to pledge support for the abolition of nuclear weapons.”

• The exhibition will be on display from Monday 28^th March to Friday the 1^st of April and will be available to view in the reception are of the University of Glyndwr, Mold Road, Wrexham, LL11 2AW.