Guildford Pub Bombings – Service of Commemoration This Sunday

Published on: 30 Sep, 2014
Updated on: 3 Oct, 2014

Staff from Guildford Borough Council’s parks department were today (Tuesday, September 30), planting flowers and making good Quakers’ Acre in North Street, ahead of this Sunday’s service of commemoration for the victims of the Guildford pub bombing on October 5, 1974.

Council staff prepare Quakers’ Acres for this Sunday’s service of commemoration for the victims of the Guildford pub bombings in 1974.

The short service is at 4pm, on the 40th anniversary of the incident. Quakers’ Acre, is next to Guildford Library and opposite the building, formerly the Horse and Groom, one of the two pubs attacked that evening. The other pub was the Seven Stars that was in Swan Lane.

A plaque in Quakers’ Acre names the five people who were killed: Paul Craig; Guardsmen William Forsyth and John Hunter of the Scots Guards; and Privates Ann Hamilton and Caroline Slater of the Women’s Royal Army Corps.

The service will remember the five who died and the many who were injured, pay tribute to the courageous work of the emergency services who helped, acknowledge with gratitude the duty of those in the armed forces who were the targets, and express our longing for peace and reconciliation now widely shared.

All are invited to attend.

Later this week, the Through Time section of The Guildford Dragon NEWS will feature a story looking back at the events that night 40 years ago.