MEMORIES of the Holocaust were evoked in school assemblies designed to keep the past alive.

Throughout this week, assemblies at Laurence Jackson School, Guisborough, were being devoted to the memory of those who died in Nazi death camps.

The series of talks, being led by RE teachers Trish Benson and Rosemary Watters, have been organised to mark Holocaust Memorial Day tomorrow.

They were to include contributions from a pupil who has visited Auschwitz and a group that has visited the Holocaust exhibition at the Imperial War Museum, as well as music from the film Schindler's List.

Mrs Benson said she was inspired to hold the assemblies by her own visit to Auschwitz.

"The Holocaust Educational Trust had a course running in 1999, which myself and Mrs Watters attended. The next month we flew to Auschwitz where we went around the camp.

"It was very traumatic and it made us want to start having annual assemblies to coincide with Holocaust Memorial Day. I think it's important to keep those memories alive, as genocide is still an issue today."

The assemblies are being followed up by sessions in the classroom and a trip to the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Nottingham later in the year.