Douglas City Council will hold its annual memorial service to remember those who lost their lives and have been impacted by the Summerland fire next Friday, August 2, at 6.35pm.

Hosted by Douglas City Council, this year’s commemoration marks 51 years since the tragedy.

Her Worship, the Mayor, Councillor Natalie Byron-Teare JP, will welcome guests ahead of the short service, to be held at the Kaye Memorial Garden on Queen’s Promenade at 6.45pm, with prayers led by the Mayor’s Chaplain, Monsignor John Devine.

It will conclude with Her Worship laying a wreath on behalf of the Council at the foot of the memorial with further wreaths laid in honour of the victims by Deputy Chief Minister Jane Poole-Wilson and a survivor of the fire, Ruth McQuillan-Wilson.

Members of the public are welcome to attend the service at the memorial, which was first placed in the Gardens by the Council in 1998 to commemorate those who lost their lives, before being replaced with a more fitting monument in 2013.

Once again a separate service will take place at the Summerland sight on the same evening at 7pm. This divide is prominent every Summerland anniversary each year, with two separate memorial services being held merely metres apart at the same time. Many survivors and campaigners continue to express their disappointment with the memorial, wanting it moved to the site of the disaster.

The 3.81 acres of land has been for sale since 2008, categorised as a ‘prime development site’.

Around the time of last year’s 50th anniversary, Chief Minister Alfred Cannan apologised for the Summerland fire in a statement made to Tynwald, with him saying it was ‘the right moment for this government to offer an apology for the suffering caused by the wrongs of the past’.

He said he was ‘sorry for the pain and suffering felt by everyone affected’.