Memorial service

Last Friday was the 25th anniversary of a fire which destroyed the hospital here in Stanley on April 10th 1984. At the time it was a joint military and civilian hospital and the older parts of the building were of wooden construction. Fire doors which could have slowed the spread of the fire had never been ordered and due to problems with the towns water supply fire hoses could not function.
When fire broke out in the early hours of the morning 8 people lost their lives including a mother and newborn baby, 5 other patients and a British nurse who died whilst attempting to save those in her care.
Although a conviction was never made it appears this was not a tragic accident but the fire was deliberately started by a person in a position of trust.
A short memorial service was held in the hospital garden at 8.30am on Friday. There were lots of people there. In a small community like this I guess most people are in some way connected to at least one of the people who died.
It seemed fitting that this was also Good Friday when we remember Jesus giving up his life so that we could be saved. We had a service at the Tabernacle at 10am with hymns, readings, prayers and communion.