North's Blitz Anniversary Looms

Preparations are continuing for the 70th anniversary of the WWII Easter Blitz when German bombers left their deadly mark on Belfast on the night of Easter Tuesday, 15 April 1941 - with another raid just days afterwards.

As the 'night to remember' approaches, the North's Tourism Minister Arlene Foster has joined Ciaran Elizabeth Doran, NI War Memorial Curator to visit the Northern Ireland War Memorial Home Front Exhibition.

Located in the Royal British Legion's headquarters, the exhibition, which attracted international visitors from over 50 countries last year, includes a unique collection of artefacts, photographs and footage from the two world wars and gives an insight into the period's impact on local people.

First opened in 1963, the Tourism Minister was viewing the exhibition in its new premises in Talbot Street in Belfast.

Meanwhile, a new civic memorial dedicated to the victims of the World War II bombing of Belfast to be erected.

A solemn monument to commemorate victims of the Belfast Blitz of 70 years ago will be located in a park beside St Anne's Cathedral.

Depending on a feasibility study, Belfast City Council is to back a proposal for the first civic Blitz memorial in the city.

That location saw some of the worst bombing but although St Anne's Cathedral was in the middle of the danger zone, it managed to escape any direct hits.

Almost 1,000 were killed and thousands more injured in two raids around Easter1941 - and outside of the city of London - this was the greatest loss of life. Two hundred Luftwaffe bombers attacked Belfast, leaving around 100,000 people - of a total population of 425,000 - homeless.

See: Blitz Memorial Proposed

See: Belfast Blitz Recalled

(BMcC/GK)