Shoreham - Uckfield Pays its Respects

I love it when the air shows are on in the summer. We get aircraft of all sorts passing our way going to or from the different events. There was no reason to expect that the 22nd of August, 2015, would be different to any other summer Saturday.

Then the news starting filtering through on Twitter. Something had happened. It was possible that a couple of people had died.  Knowing social media's tendency to exaggerate, I did a quick fact check. Several sources, notably BBC Sussex and AirLive.net confirmed that a Hawker Hunter had crashed. Suddenly my feeds were full of images of fire and smoke.

As the hours and days went by, the news got progressively worse. Late on Sunday afternoon a rather forlorn trickle of aircraft passed over. In the end it was established that 11 people died and many were injured.

The people of Shoreham commemorated the victims of this appalling tragedy by placing flowers on Shoreham's old toll bridge.  Soon it was announced that a one minute silence would be held. In Uckfield, people were soon asking questions - Would the maroon be fired? Should people gather in the town?

James Anderson, local councillor and shopkeeper, stepped into the breach and organised the minute's silence. And so more than 100 of us found ourselves just outside Hartfields in the middle of the town waiting for the first maroon. 

People gathering outside Hartfields.

I moved round taking photos as unobtrusively as possible. I was touched to hear a mother explaining to her small children why it was important to stay silent after 'the big bang'.  As the Deputy Mayor, Duncan Bennet gave a poignant explanation of what was happening, a white butterfly flew just above the group of councillors.

Uckfield Town Councillors.

As the first maroon sounded, James Anderson stepped forward and mounted the wreath on the town sign pole.

Wreath provided by staff at Miss Bloomsbury.

Even the clatter of cutlery at the outside tables stopped and some of the diners stood up. For one long minute, we reflected on what had happened and honoured everyone who had been involved with the Shoreham tragedy. When the second maroon sounded it was time for the town to get back to its usual bustling self.

Crowds dispersing.