Apart from journalist and broadcaster Pennie Taylor, the whole programme for the evening, held in the Eastwood Park Theatre on Monday, was performed by young people.

Ms Taylor said: "You would think that after the Holocaust, with its mind-boggling consequences, there would never again be an act of genocide.

"But, almost 70 years after the end of the Second World War and the liberation of Auschwitz, genocide is still here, stalking the world headlines.

"If you are one of the unlucky ones caught up in it, you must be wondering how the world can let it happen.

"Perpetrators tend to say that it didn't happen. They even argue about what genocide means - how utterly shameful. Only our collective vigilance can keep it at bay.

"We all have our duty to do our bit. We know full well where ignoring it might lead us."

A drama, Speak Out, was performed by Nathan Byrne, Jayne Austin and Martin Quinn; Eastwood High School pupils Jack Wylie and Gemma Sichi spoke about their visit to Auschwitz before a film presentation of the trip was shown.

East Renfrewshire School pupils read the HMD Statement of Commitments; cellist Catriona Vipond played a Bach Prelude; Briony Allan performed First They Came, by Pastor Martin Niemoller and the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust film Learning from the Past was shown.

The programme was opened and closed by the East Renfrewshire School's Senior Octet.