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Memorial service 2007
On the Saturday the 16th of June members of the Lancastria Association of Scotland along with invited guests gathered in St George’s Church West, Edinburgh to the annual memorial service. The service was very well attended and included survivors, relatives of victims and survivors and a number of prominent representatives from the various ex-servicemen organisations together with the Solicitor General, on behalf of the new Scottish Government, the Deputy French Consul General and the French Naval Attachè to London. 
Author and former newspaper editor Jonathan Fenby gave an emotive eulogy to the memory of the victims and in salute of the survivors who endured the tragedy that day. 11-year-old Rachel Hirst, the great granddaughter of a survivor, gave a reading from the bible. Members were also able to view some of the initial memorial designs for the monument which will be erected in Clydebank, Glasgow. More details of this will be in the next newsletter to members.
Survivors and relatives will be back again next year and the RAF have indicated they will send a guard of honour in recognition of the large loss of life their service suffered aboard the Lancastria.
Amongst the guests who joined survivors and members of the Association were Group Captain and Mrs Robert G. Kemp from the RAF Benevolent Fund (director for Scotland and Fund Raising); Frank Mullholland, Solicitor General for Scotland; Derek Scarlett B.E.M. Royal Naval Association; Lt. R. Erskine, Royal Naval Reserves; Mme Corinne Fauveau, French Deputy Consul; Captain Jean Nicolas Gautier, French Naval Attaché, London; Mr and Mrs John Gadsby, Mr and Mrs Charles Smith, Mr Jack Spiers and Sheila Knox from Erskine House, Edinburgh; Major Bob Ritchie, Black Watch Association, Balhousie Castle; Lt Commander Chris Walsh, Faslane Naval Base; Rev Neil Gardner, Canongate, representing the Moderator the Rev Kesting; Lt Commander Jeremy Jamieson, The Earl Haig Poppy Fund; Lt Commander SCC RNR, Thomas Howel with a group from the Leith Sea Cadets; various representatives from the Royal British Legion branches and last, but certainly not least, Jonathan Fenby.
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