The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Prince Charles and First Minister to lead live online Iolaire tribute
An emotional service to mark the centenary of one of Britain’s worst maritime disasters is to be streamed live online – allowing descendants of the victims scattered around the world to feel part of the commemoration, it was confirmed today.
Prince Charles and Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon are to lead the tributes on New Year’s Day to commemorate the Iolaire tragedy.
It was just before 2am on the first day of the first year without world war, that a ship carrying more than 250 islanders home struck a reef barely 20 yards from shore at Holm on the approach to Stornoway Harbour in the Outer Hebrides.
Most never reached the jagged coast. In total 201 died and there were only 79 survivors of the Iolaire disaster.
New Year’s Day will mark the centenary of the greatest loss of life in British waters in peacetime.
But on Hogmanay a sold-out A Community Remembers event, which will start at 9.30pm at Lewis Sports Centre in Stornoway, will be broadcast live on BBC Radio nan Gàidheal and will also be streamed live on the internet at www.iolaireonline.org
One woman is known to be travelling from Canada just for the event.
The programme will include prayer, psalms, music, and readings in English and Gaelic.
The MCs for the evening will be the BBC’s Angus MacDonald and Agnes Rennie from the Stornoway publisher Acair, which has produced a seminal new book – The Darkest Dawn – about the tragedy. There is a relay into the nearby Nicolson Institute, which is also sold out.
Norman A MacDonald, chairman of The Iolaire Working Group, said: “We wanted to be as inclusive as possible with all the events to mark the 100th anniversary of the Iolaire tragedy.”