PEOPLE across the region gathered yesterday in remembrance of the six million Jewish victims of the Nazi Holocaust.

Services throughout the North-East and North Yorkshire marked the country's third National Holocaust Day, on the anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, in 1945.

Darlington school choirs gathered at the Dolphin Centre to perform several songs, under the theme Children and the Holocaust.

Eastbourne Comprehensive School, in Darlington, also held a drama workshop and performed Ashes to Ashes, a drama based on the experiences of the Holocaust.

Newcastle's Lord Mayor, Councillor John Marshall, led a memorial service last night focusing on the impact of racial discrimination on children during the Holocaust and in today's society.

Youngsters gave readings from the work they submitted for a writing competition associated with the events.

Youngsters from Delaval Primary School, Westgate Hill Primary School and the Children's Express project, Cowgate, highlighted the racism problems faced by today's children.

There was also a report from a school conference organised by the Holocaust Memorial Day Working Group held earlier in the day.

Alongside the readings and reflection there was a programme of Klezmer - a form of Jewish music - by the Young Sinfonia, the youth orchestra of Northern Sinfonia.

The evening ended with the symbolic lighting of candles, two-minutes silence and the signing of a book of remembrance.

Coun Marshall said: "We must never forget the atrocities of the Holocaust and use this day of remembrance to make sure these crimes of the past are not repeated today anywhere in the world.