Bus bombing memorial service

SOLEMN MOMENT Last year's procession gets underway.

Survivors and the families of victims will turn out to Hartshead Moor services for the 41st anniversary commemoration of an IRA bus bombing on Sunday.

Eleven died outright when the coach carrying off-duty members of the Army and their families exploded on the M62 near Birstall’s Oakwell Hall on February 4, 1974.

Hartshead Moor services, also on the M62, was used as an impromptu first aid camp. A service is held there annually on the nearest Sunday.

It will be attended by various dignitaries, including the Mayor of Kirklees Ken Smith, and an expected 200-250 others.

The service starts at 10.15am and will finish at roughly 11.45am. Meet in the main entrance before the service by the outdoor memorial plaque, which was unveiled at the 35th anniversary.

Members of the Fusiliers Association in Oldham organise the commemoration, because many of the victims were from that area.

The coach had been used to carry British Army and Royal Air Force personnel on leave with their families to and from the bases at Catterick and Darlington during a period of train worker strikes. Another traveller died four days later.