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Services mark crash anniversary

Lisa Brown
Lighthouse staff

 COUNTY - Family members, communities and officials will pause to remember the victims of Swissair Flight 111 this week.

 The first anniversary of the air disaster will be marked by memorial services and events on September 1 and 2. More than 600 family members are expected to be in the province this week to take part.

 "From the start, the families have been an important consideration in all our planning," Lorne Clarke, chairman of the Flight 111 Memorial Advisory Committee, said last week. "I hope they find some measure of comfort in these services."

 At 11 a.m. Wednesday, a private dedication will be held at the Bayswater memorial and interment site.

 The Bayswater Beach provincial park, including the beach, has been closed from Tuesday through Thursday. It will reopen September 3. Parking has also been closed on Route 329 within three kilometres of the park. That measure started Friday and continues to September 3.

 At 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, a second memorial dedication will be held at Whalesback. Mr. Clarke will make the opening remarks and an RCMP chaplain will read the opening prayer.

 Benoit Bouchard, chairman of the Transportation Safety Board, will read the monument inscription in French. Premier John Hamm will then read the inscription in English and dedicate the memorial.

 Rev. Richard Walsh, who has retired from his Peggy's Cove parish since the tragedy, will give the benediction. RCMP Inspector Andy Arsenault will sing Roses on the Rocks, a song written by local artist Bob Quinn after the Swissair crash.

 While the inspector is singing, representatives of various groups will lay roses on each side of the memorial rocks. Mr. Clarke will conclude the ceremony.

 While the service is open to the public, people should be aware that there is a similar temporary no-parking area within three kilometres of Whalesback. The restriction began Friday and continues until September 3. It does not include the village of Peggy's Cove.

 On September 2, a commemorative gathering is scheduled for the Port Royal Room of the World Trade and Convention Centre in Halifax. Officials say it will be an opportunity for family members to meet Nova Scotians who took part in the search, recovery and other operations following the crash. It was organized at the request of the families.

 That event begins at 4 p.m. Mr. Clarke will offer opening remarks at 6 p.m. and Premier Hamm will officially welcome everyone. National and international heads of state will begin their remarks shortly after that.

 Speakers include Prime Minister Jean Chr&é;tien; Ruth Dreifuss, president of the Swiss Confederation; Jane Garvey, administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration; Charles Josselin, minister delegate attached to the Minister of Foreign Affairs with responsibility for Co-operation and Francophonie, France; Halifax Mayor Walter Fitzgerald; and RCMP Commissioner Philip Murray.

 At 9:30 p.m., there will be an interfaith candlelight memorial service, open to the public, on Citadel Hill in Halifax. The gates will open at 9 p.m.