A VERY special rose has been used to commemorate an important date in York’s history.

Yesterday marked the anniversary of when York’s Jewish community perished in the pogrom of 1190 and it was remembered with a rose-planting ceremony at Tower Gardens.

The Souvenir d’Anne Frank rose was sent to York by Kenji Yamamuro, from Japan. The rose has been grafted from a flower sent to Japan by Anne Frank’s father, Otto Frank, to a young Japanese girl, Michiko Otsuki, who was a reader of Anne’s Diary, in the 1970s. From that one rose, grafts were taken by Michiko’s uncle, Mr Yamamuro, and sent all over Japan, to be planted and nurtured by children, as a living reminder of Anne and her longing for a peaceful world.

Children from Knavesmire Primary School attended yesterday’s ceremony, singing a song with words by Anne, and hanging poems they had written on to a cut out “Remembering Tree” created for the occasion.

The rose was sent as part of the Souvenir d'Anne Frank project, a new theatre and music work, which will be touring to York Theatre Royal later this month.