Family of murdered soldier thank Order
THE girlfriend of one of the soldiers murdered at Massereene Barracks in Antrim last year has thanked local Orangemen for honouring their memory.
The Randalstown District sold 12,000 badges they designed in memory of the two soldiers – Patrick Azimkar and Mark Quinsey – who were gunned down outside the base by the Real IRA as they collected pizzas on March 7, 2009.
In a personal letter, Louise Potter, the girlfriend of Patrick Azimkar, expressed her thanks to members of Randalstown District who presented a cheque for 15,000 to the Royal Engineers Benevolent Fund.
"I would like to say thank you for the badges. They are wonderful. Myself, Pat's family and friends have been wearing them with pride and we feel honoured that the people of Antrim have put together such brilliant and beautiful badges for our boys."
The Orange Order in Randalstown also received a letter from Sapper Azimkar's father, Mehmet Azimkar, who also expressed his thanks.
He said: "We have been touched by the extraordinary support of the local people of Antrim and would like to thank you all for your solidarity."
Secretary of Randalstown District, Alan Nicholl, said he and a number of fellow Orange Order members were at a function in Ballymena on March 7 as news of the shootings in Antrim came through.
"Two days later, the Province was plunged into deeper darkness when Constable Stephen Carroll of the PSNI was murdered in Craigavon.
"At a meeting of our District Orange Lodge we felt we wanted to do something to show our support and solidarity for both the Army and the police at that time.
"We decided in the short term to organise a coffee morning and raised 1,350, which was divided between the Benevolent Funds for the PSNI and the Royal Engineers.
"Because of the close proximity to us, of the murders in Antrim, we decided that we would also design a badge in memory of the two soldiers. We designed and made 1,000 badges – they were sold in 10 days so we had to re-order and keep re-ordering until we sold 12,000."
Mr Nicholl said the badges have been sold all over Northern Ireland, Germany, the United States and Canada.
He said it was a "privilege and honour" to meet with members of the Azimkar and Quinsey families in October when they came to Antrim for a memorial event at the offices of Antrim Borough Council adding that they were glad to have the approval of the families for what they were doing.
Lt Col John McLennan, Controller of the Royal Engineers Association said the "very generous gesture of the Orange Order Randalstown District to our charity is most gratefully received and will help continue our work for the benefit of our hard pressed sappers for many years in the future".
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Saturday 04 February 2012
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