This December the The Beatles Story attraction in Liverpool goes back to 1969 to echo John and Yoko’s WAR IS OVER! If You Want It Christmas campaign. Tony McDonough reports

Liverpool Beatles attraction The Beatles Story will commemorate John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s 1969 WAR IS OVER! If You Want It Christmas campaign this month.

And, to accompany its festive season offering the Royal Albert Dock museum will also shine a spotlight on the work of UK charity War Child. The organisation is looking to supply food and warm clothes to children in Ukraine this winter.

Launched on December 15, 1969, at the height of the counterculture movement, WAR IS OVER! If You Want It saw posters in 12 cities. They were New York, Los Angeles, Toronto, Rome, Athens, Amsterdam, Berlin, Paris, London, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Helsinki.

John and Yoko used posters, leaflets, radio appearances and billboards to promote their message of peace. In 1971 they released the classic Christmas song Happy Xmas (War is Over).

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The single was a protest song against the Vietnam War, and was an accumulation of the couple’s peace campaigning and activism. The Beatles Story hopes that awareness and donations to War Child will help, in some way, to bring them closer to the peace that John Lennon advocated for.

WAR IS OVER! If You Want It will take over all aspects of the business throughout December, promoting peace within their exhibition, Discovery Zone, cafés, stores and digital platforms in order to inspire conversations around the topic.

The attraction will also encourage donations to support the charity War Child in achieving the amazing work they do around the world.

The month-long campaign will include a new display within the attraction’s Fab4 Café. The public will have the opportunity to see Yoko Ono: MENDED CUPS.

This is an illy Art Collection consisting of seven coffee cups that represent some of history’s most catastrophic wars, such as World War Two, as well as the assassination of John Lennon in 1980. The set, designed by Yoko Ono, was released in 2015.

“Since the early 1960s, Yoko Ono has had an impact on the international art scene, helping to redefine the relationship between the artist and society through her contributions to art, performance, music, feminism, and anti-war activism,” says illy.

In addition to its month-long peace campaign, The Beatles Story also offers free entry to refugees living in the UK.

They are advised to contact enquiries@beatlesstory.com to pre-book their visit and are required to bring proof of settled status to show staff on arrival.