SAVING LIVES - AND REMEMBERING LIVES: A SPECIAL SERVICE OF DEDICATION

The memory of Redcar and Cleveland residents who have lost their lives at sea and the debt of gratitude to those who battle to save lives is being honoured at a special ceremony in Redcar cemetery on Sunday, May 24.

A parade will leave Redcar Racecourse at 2pm for the cemetery, led by the Hartlepool Sea Cadets' bugles and drums, and include ex-servicemen, organised by parade marshall Eric Howden plus representatives from the sea cadets, the RAF, the Army, the Redcar lifeboat crew and the lifeboat itself.

Then at the cemetery, there are plans for a 45-minute service and the unveiling of two commemorative plaques.

The event marks the culmination of three years work by the Friends of Redcar Cemetery that has restored the cemetery's old rose garden and created two facing memorial gardens, with stones and plaques.

The first plaque, to be unveiled by Dave Buckworth, the secretary of the Merchant Navy Association, has an extract from an old 1800s hymn:

"Fierce was the wild billow, dark was the night. Men laboured heavily, foam glimmered white. Trembled the mariners, peril was nigh. Then said the Lord of Lords, Peace: It is I."

The second plaque, to be unveiled by Redcar lifeboat's senior helmsman Mike Picknett, who lost three relatives in a sea tragedy in 1900, uses an extract from a poem, For I am a Lifeboatman, by John Hanvey, the chairman of Seahouses RNLI.

It reads: "When I am called to duty Lord, wherever gales may rage, give me strength to save a life whatever be their age. Help me to brave the tempest before it is too late and save some struggling seaman from the horror of their fate."

The 45-minute service, to be jointly conducted by the vicar of St Peter's, the Reverend Canon John Weetman and Colin Worwick, chaplain to the Mission to Seafarers, will include addresses from the Council's newly-elected Mayor, Councillor Brian Briggs, Redcar MP Vera Baird and Lord Zetland, the Friends' patron. Marske Fishermen's Choir will also perform three sea shanties.

The Friends' chairman Ged Fleming said: "Sunday will be the realisation of so much hard work. We all hope it will a special and memorable day."

The Council's Cabinet Member for the Environment Councillor Sylvia Szintai said: "We have been only too pleased to help, not only with grant aid, but also with the creation of these two memorial gardens."

The £7,000 funding package includes £2,000 from Redcar and Cleveland Council's Community Fund, £1,500 from the Neighbourhood Renewal Fund, £100 from the Freemason Lodge of Philosophy, a personal donation from the Friends' 95-year-old president, Vera Robinson MBE, and money raised from sales and tombolas.

*Anyone wishing to attend the Sunday service is urged to park at the Racecourse car park, via its entrance off Redcar Lane.