Belfast Blitz: Ballycarry and Whitehead communities pay tribute to victims 85 years on

The Mayor of Mid and East Antrim, Councillor Jackson Minford, joined members of the Ballycarry and Whitehead communities on Tuesday, May 5 to honour those from the area who lost their lives in 1941.

The Lord Lieutenant of County Antrim, David McCorkell KSt.J laid a wreath before the Mayor and a representative of Whitehead Royal British Legion.

The symbols of remembrance were placed beneath the panel of the War Memorial that mentions the Blitz victims.

Pupils from Ballycarry Primary School took time to remember the children and adults who lost their lives by laying poppy crosses on the Hutchinson and McCready graves.

The Mayor said: “In this 85th anniversary year of the Blitz, we wanted to commemorate here at Ballycarry, where the poignant reminder of the loss is so strongly reflected. At the grave of the Hutchinson family there are six family members buried after being killed during the April 1941 air raid.

“William and Sarah Hutchinson and their children Lily, Sadie, Rita, Martin and May are resting in Templecorran Cemetery. As a community we have come together and stand for several generations to remember those from the Mid and East Antrim area.”

May Hutchinson, at the tender age of two, was one of the youngest victims of the Blitz, while John McCready, at the age 85 and buried at the Templecorran Cemetery, was among the oldest of the 987 victims.

Rev. Nigel Kirkpatrick of St. John’s Parish Church officiating at the ceremony and remarked that 85 years later, the local graves are a reminder of the civilian cost of conflict.