10 evocative photos of emotional service at Black Country church offering chance to remember and reflect on young lives lost in Dunblane Massacre on 30th anniversary
It was a day for a community to come together, light a candle and remember those who died 30 years ago in a senseless attack.
St Peter's Church in Cradley was the setting for a solemn and emotional service on Friday in memory of the 16 pupils and their teacher who died in the Dunblane Massacre on March 13, 1996, including a young girl who had grown up in the area and been baptised in that church.
Charlotte Dunn, aged five, was in a PE lesson with her classmates at Dunblane Primary School on March 13, 1996, when Thomas Hamilton burst into the school hall and started shooting. The youngster was among 16 pupils who died on the day, alongside her teacher Gwen Mayor.
The incident plunged a shocked nation into mourning, and the UK Government soon introduced a ban on most handguns.
Three decades later, the service allowed people to light a candle, then listen to a short prayer and a moment of remembrance by Rev. Victoria Barlow.
Charlotte had been a pupil at Cradley C of E Primary School, doing her reception year at the school before her family moved to Dunblane, and headteacher Claire Walford said she was still remembered at the school nearly 30 years later.
She said: "We have a picture of Charlotte in our corridor and, at the moment, we have been talking as a staff group about something that we can do for the 30th anniversary, such as a further tribute like an outdoor play shed or reading shed.
