A MEMORIAL service was held in Heaton Cemetery as members of Bolton's Ukrainian community remembered one of the darkest moments in the nation's history.

Ukrainian Catholic priests, MPs and other civic dignitaries attended the ceremony which marked 85 years since Holodomor — or “Death by Starvation” — which saw millions of Ukrainians die as a result of a man-made famine during 1932-33.

At noon on Sunday, those gathered paid tribute to the innocent victims and then heard a number of speeches before singing the hymn God is Great.

Minister-Counsellor Andriy Marchenko of the Ukrainian Embassy laid a wreath and spoke about the importance of continuing to raise awareness about the tragedy at every level to prevent any repeat of the horrific events.

Chris Green, MP for Bolton West and Atherton, David Crausby, MP for Bolton North East, and Yasmin Qureshi, MP for Bolton South East, were among those in attendance.

Yaroslaw Tymchyshyn, chairman of the Bolton branch of the Association of Ukrainians in Great Britain, said: "I was so glad of the support that everyone in our community and outside of Bolton showed.

"We were very grateful to the two representatives from the Ukrainian Embassy for coming. It was also very well supported by all three MPs as well as Cllrs Nick Peel and Martin Donaghy."

Mr Tymchyshyn urged the Mayor of Bolton, Cllr Elaine Sherrington, and Bolton MPs, to press the UK Government to recognise Holodomor as an act of genocide against the Ukrainian people.

In 2009, Cllr Nick Peel had a motion passed by the Council, which was seconded by Cllrs John Walsh and Roger Hayes, to formally recognise Holodomor as an act of genocide by the Soviet regime of Joseph Stalin.

However, the British Government still maintains a restrained position.

Mr Tymchyshyn said: "85 years ago, Joseph Stalin created a man-made famine in Soviet Ukraine.

"Between seven and 12 million Ukrainians were killed. We regard this as one of our darkest moments in history.

"In 2009, Bolton Council recognised the events as genocide. In 2013, we were given permission to erect a memorial stone in Heaton Cemetery.

"There were national events taking place across the country to commemorate the 85th anniversary."