HMS Dasher Memorial, South Beach 13
28 March 2010
On the afternoon of Saturday
27 March 1943, the Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Dasher was sailing in the
Clyde Estuary between Ardrossan and Arran. At 4.40 pm, there was an enormous
explosion. Within a short time, the ship sank. Of the 528 men on board, 379
were killed by the blast or drowned. The memorial stone and plaque, in the Sunken
Gardens on South Beach, were unveiled on 27 March 1993, exactly fifty years
after the tragedy. Every year since 2000, there has been a commemoration service
on the Sunday of or before 27 March. The picture above was taken during the
2010 service. The Isle Of Cumbrae Royal British Legion Scotland Pipe Band accompanied
by members of the British Legion pictured
above, Ardrossan
Sea Cadets and Stevenston Boys' Brigade marched to and played at the beginning
and end of the service. The service was conducted by Canon Matt McManus, Parish
Priest of the Church of Saint Peter
in Chains. Sarah
Seggie played the Last Post and the Reveille on the trumpet and Pipe
Major David Mitchell played the lament, Flowers of the Forest, on the bagpipes.
Floral tributes were laid by the
families of sailors who were aboard the Dasher, the
British Legion, Ardrossan Sea
Cadets, Stevenston
Boys' Brigade, Kenneth
Gibson local Member of the Scottish Parliament, Depute
Provost Ian Clarkson, the Police and others.
Refreshments
were later served to participants in Saint
Peter's Parish Centre.