More than 300 children from primary schools across the island celebrated World Peace Day by raising money for Ukraine.

Children joined together to sing on Tynwald Hill in St John’s on Wednesday in the first of what is hoped will be an annual event.

It was inspired by and registered with the ‘One Day, One Choir’ group, a global choral project for peace which aims to ‘use the harmonious power of singing together to unite people around the world’.

They sang songs such as ‘Imagine’ and ‘All You Need is Love’, guided by children’s entertainment and theatre duo Hello Little People and led in procession by members of Sambamann.

Pupils from the Bunscoill Ghaelgagh sang a song in Manx and a group of Ukrainian children sang a song for peace. Organiser Pauline Quayle DeHaven came up with the idea of a ‘One Day, One Choir’ style event to promote peace while in the United States at the time of 9/11.

The war in Ukraine brought the idea back. She said before the event: ‘The world is experiencing so much unrest.

‘We not only celebrate our increasingly diverse island population but also demonstrate how important peace and unity are to us.

‘Music is a universal language, it crosses all barriers. To hear our school children from across the island singing words from such poignant pieces on World Peace Day will hopefully make a very powerful statement which will resonate with people everywhere.’