SERVICE OF DEDICATION
THE MEMORIAL TO PASSENGERS AND CREW ABOARD CHANNEL AIRWAYS DAKOTA G-AGZB
DEDICATED AT 2.28 PM, SUNDAY 4TH MAY 2003
ST. BONIFACE DOWN
VENTNOR
ISLE OF WIGHT
SERVICE CONDUCTED BY REVD. CANON DONOVAN LAURIE
VICAR OF VENTNOR
Survivors, relatives, rescuers, the Chair and Deputy of the Isle of Wight Council,
The Lady Mayor of Ventnor, representatives of all the emergency services, the National
Trust, National Air Traffic Services, local residents - 120 people, and the team
who made it possible.
We gathered on the Down in perfect weather to pay our last respects to those who
didn't come home that fateful day. What a contrast to the dense fog and chill that
obscured the high ground 41 years before.
Canon Donovan Laurie prepared a lovely and moving service with a stunning backdrop
of the English Channel, in which survivors and relatives all played a part.
Then, at 2.28 pm, two of those who were on the plane that day unveiled the monument.
Twelve roses, each with the name of one of those lost.
Their names were read aloud and a two minute silence observed to remember them.
It was a tragedy, but they are remembered and did not die in vain.
