Newry and Mourne Police and Armed services memorial parade in Kilkeel this weekend in memory of 222 members of police and armed forces killed in Troubles
The annual parade in memory of 222 members of the police and armed forces who were killed in Newry and Mourne during the Troubles will take place in Kilkeel this Sunday.
The Newry and Mourne Police and Armed services memorial parade will begin next to Kilkeel Firestation at Greencastle Street at 3pm and the religious service will take place at the Police and Combined Services Memorial at the Lower Square Kilkeel at 3:30pm.
Organisers say it is it is intended to remember the 222 “brave men and women of the police and military” named on the memorial who lost their lives in the Newry and Mourne District due to their service and in the pursuit of peace.
The annual event began in 2007 after a community campaign to erect a permanent memorial in the town to those who were killed.
The number of people take part each year can up to several hundred, with one band due to lead the procession on Sunday.
DUP Councillor Henry Reilly was a key mover behind the erection of the memorial.
"I knew a lot of the people who had been killed in the line of duty in Newry and Mourne area and I just felt there was a need for all their names to be permanently remembered,” he told the News Letter.
The memorial was very warmly received by the families and friends of those killed, he said.
"It was also a massive community effort to see the memorial realised. It is probably one of the most impressive anywhere in Northern Ireland and it was all done through community support.
It was only fitting that the memorial was launched with a formal procession through the town, which has become an annual fixture in the Kilkeel calendar, he added.
An additional stone was added to the memorial with the names of four PSNI officers who died on duty in Warrenpoint in 2008.
Constables Kevin Gorman, James Magee, Kenny Irvine and Declan Greene were killed in a fire in their 4x4.
They were travelling down a dark, wet road outside Warrenpoint on their way to help a colleague when they were involved in a fatal crash.