Can you help track down the people who were behind the erection of memorials that commemorate the Tay Bridge Disaster of 1879?
The 10th anniversary of the two memorials being erected at Wormit and Dundee is to be marked with a reunion.
Members of the former Tay Bridge Disaster Memorial Trust will gather at the Dundee Riverside Memorial at 11am on Thursday December 28.
As well as it being the first decade anniversary of the eight feet tall granite memorials being unveiled, it will also be the 144th anniversary of the tragedy itself.
The memorials name the 59 people “known to have died” when the Tay Bridge collapsed during a violent storm on the evening of December 28, 1879.
The train in which they were travelling plunged in to the Tay, killing everyone on board.
However, reunion organisers are looking for help to track down everyone who was originally involved in the erection of the memorials.
Who are former Tay Bridge disaster memorial trust members still looking for?
Writer and poet Ian Nimmo White, who is former Tay Bridge Disaster Memorial Trust secretary, said: “As members of the former Tay Bridge Disaster Memorial Trust, we are having a re-union at the Riverside Memorial at 11am on Thursday December 28, by way of celebrating the 10th anniversary of raising the memorials on December 28, 2013.
“Many people will remember that day, not only for the ceremonies but also for the fireworks display over the river which took place in the evening.
“We would be delighted if other friends who supported the memorials’ project would care to join us.
“However, we would particularly like to hear from John Gray who did the planning work for the memorials.
”He recently retired and we’ve lost contact.
“If John or anyone who knows him happens to read this, then please phone 01307 465552.”
How was the 134th anniversary marked at the memorial unveiling in 2013?
Dignified tribute was paid to the victims of the Tay Bridge Disaster when memorials were officially unveiled at Wormit and Dundee on December 28 2013.
Several hundred people including local schoolchildren joined civic dignitaries, descendants of those lost and fundraisers for the official unveiling of the giant granite blocks that carry the names of the 59 souls lost.
The Tay Bridge Disaster Memorial Trust unveiled the first of the £35,000 memorials at Wormit Bay.
Historian David Swinfen, former vice-principal of Dundee University and chair of the Tay Rail Bridge Disaster Memorial Trust, paid tribute to the people killed in the tragedy.
The memorial was unveiled by David Leighton, the great-grandson of train driver David Mitchell, and Jim Marshall, the grand-nephew of the train’s fireman, John Marshall.
They were among 30 descendants of the victims who attended the event.
A second ceremony was held at Dundee’s Riverside Drive, where the second granite memorial was unveiled.
How did Ian Nimmo-White get involved in the Tay Bridge memorial campaign?
Ian Nimmo-White, a retired Fife community worker, got involved after becoming interested in tracking down descendants of train driver David Mitchell, from Leslie, in Fife.
The final death toll has been disputed, with claims that as many as 75 were killed in the disaster and, as a result, the memorials bear the words “those known to have died”, with 59 names.
The original Tay Bridge was designed by noted railway engineer Thomas Bouch.
It collapsed after its central spans gave way during gales, although the reasons have been debated.
After the accident the engine, Number 224, was recovered, dried out, reconditioned and put back in to service until 1917.
It was known thereafter as “The Diver”.
The memorials, comprising three angled granite plates at both Wormit Bay and Dundee Riverside, were crafted at a workshop in Inverurie.
The dignified and long overdue ceremonies at Wormit and Dundee Riverside on December 28, 2013, were followed by a spectacular fireworks display in the evening, watched by an estimated 10,000 people.
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