Quietly remembered after 25 years, the 16 children killed at Dunblane
IT WAS an atrocity that shocked the world when 16 children and a teacher were gunned down at Dunblane Primary School.
Today is the 25th anniversary of the tragedy and a minister said it would be marked privately by residents “as is the case every year”.
Despite churches being closed due to the current coronavirus restrictions, the Rev Colin Renwick, the minister at Dunblane Cathedral, will hold worship online tomorrow and remember the victims in prayer.
The 16 children and their teacher, Gwen Mayor, were murdered by Thomas Hamilton at Dunblane, near Stirling in central Scotland, when he opened fire on a gym class at the school on March 13 1996.
Hamilton killed himself when he turned one of the guns he had on himself.
The events in the town remain the deadliest mass shooting in British history.
The massacre in the Stirlingshire town shocked the nation and led to the UK enforcing some of the strictest firearms legislation in the world.
Mr Renwick said: “Many people in Dunblane will be marking this particular anniversary as they mark March 13 every year – quietly, privately and with respect for those who lost their lives in the tragedy of 25 years ago.”
He added: “They will also be remembering those whose grief will always be deepest and the people who still, in one way or another, bear scars.
“Some will light a candle in their home, spending time in quiet reflection, prayer and remembering. For those who lost someone in the tragedy, every day will be one of remembering in some way.”
Mr Renwick went on: “The anniversaries that will be just as poignant for them will be the birthdays of those they have lost, as they ponder what might have been.”
Prayers during the cathedral’s online service will include the words that have been inscribed on the memorial to the tragedy in the south aisle of the cathedral: “Hear the Truth. Unless your hearts are changed and you become like little children, you will not enter the Kingdom of heaven at all.”
Some will light a candle in their home, spending time in quiet reflection. The Rev Colin Renwick, the minister at Dunblane Cathedral.