Reading Remembers the Victims of Forbury Gardens Five Years On
- On Friday 20 June - five years after the attacks - Reading will commemorate the innocent victims of Forbury Gardens at a Civic Memorial Service
- Residents are invited to attend the service which begins at 7pm at the memorial stone in Forbury Gardens
Reading will once again come together to remember the innocent victims of Forbury Gardens next week.
Five years on from the horrific attacks in which three people lost their lives, Reading’s community will gather at the bandstand memorial stone on Friday 20 June in a show of solidarity and support for the families and friends of James Furlong, Joe Ritchie-Bennett and David Wails, and those who were injured in the gardens on 20 June 2020.
A private memorial service for family, friends and invited guests will first take place at nearby St Laurence’s Church from 6pm. The group will then make their way to the permanent memorial stone at Forbury Gardens bandstand where there will be a short Civic Memorial Service, starting at 7pm, led by the new Mayor of Reading, Cllr Mpofu Coles, and Rev’d Sonya Wratten, of the Reading Minster of St Mary the Virgin.
The service will feature a performance by local gospel singer Nichole Grace. This will be followed by a flower laying ceremony and a minute’s silence. As usual, residents attending are welcome to bring their own flowers to lay should they choose to.
Residents are advised Forbury Gardens will be closed from 3pm on the day, before reopening at 6.30pm for members of the public who want to attend the Civic Memorial Service. The gardens then shut to the public again from 8pm, and from 9pm the Maiwand Lion will be lit up with three beams of light shone into the night sky, in memory of James, Joe and David, and all of those affected.
Councillor Liz Terry, Reading Borough Council Leader, said:
“Forbury Gardens will host a particularly poignant Civic Memorial Service this year, being the five-year anniversary of a day nobody associated with Reading will ever forget.
“Five years may have passed, but the painful memories of that day remain, and Friday’s service is an opportunity for Reading’s community to come together once again at the Forbury in a show of support and solidarity for the families and close friends of James, Joe and David, just as they did in the difficult days and weeks which followed.
“The thoughts and prayers of everybody in Reading remain with the families and friends who so needlessly loved lost ones that day, and all those injured or affected.”
The Civic Memorial Service will be livestreamed on the Council’s Facebook page for those unable to attend.