The east Donegal village of St Johnston will hold the 100 Years Drowning Tragedy Memorial Service on Friday evening next – 100 years to the day from four young boys drowned in the River Foyle.
A memorial service will be staged and a tree planted in memory of the four – Arthur James Dowds (9), James Orr (13), George Quigley (13) and Patrick O’Donnell (9) – who tragically perished.
The service will also remember others who lost their lives in the river.
The quartet drowned on June 30th 1917 while bathing in an area known to locals as ‘The Widgeon Hole’.
A fifth boy, James Burnside, was with them, but he survived having realised that the waters at The Widgeon Hole were too deep.
That night at around 11pm, the bodies of Dowds and Orr were recovered by a diver from Derry who was brought in by the boys’ parents.
The remains of Quigley and O’Donnell were not recovered until later.
Friday’s service gets underway at 6.30pm and will be held adjacent to St Johnston Cricket Club on the Railway Road.
Clergy including Monsignor Dan Carr, Rev Craig Wilson, Rev David Latimer and Canon David Crooks will lead the ceremony.
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