It was a great personal honour when I recently received a telephone call from the Borough Commander at Wigan inviting me to Leigh Fire Station to lead a tribute all who lost their lives in the atrocities of 9/11, and most especially the 343 fire-fighters and one of their Chaplains who died at the Twin Towers in New York. Amongst the invited guests were Jim Maloney, Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Greater Manchester, the local Member of Parliament, the Right Honourable Andy Burnham, and 2 American Citizens who now live locally, Pamela Ball and Ken Diss.
I gave a brief address after which
Pamela and Ken laid a floral tribute at the base of the flag pole.
Then 'the bells went down' at 1.46 precisely, the time the first plane
hit the North Tower, and silence was observed for one minute.
The silence was broken with my
offering the fire-fighters prayer and the blessing, after which two members
of the newly formed Cadet Unit planted a Cherry Tree in the lawn at the
front of the Fire Station.
I am very grateful also to my son, Chris, who kindly took all the pictures for this page.
After the Memorial refreshments were served by the cadets and also a chance for more pictures.
