Posted Friday 04 July 2008
6 July 1988 was a day which changed the oil industry. Late in the evening an explosion blew apart the Piper Alpha oil platform and for the first time the human cost of North Sea oil was fully realised.
On 6 July this year the Piper Alpha tragedy will be remembered at a service in the Kirk of Saint Nicholas, Aberdeen, conducted by the Rev Fred Coutts of Aberdeen Hospitals, the Rev Andrew Jolly, the UK Oil and Gas Chaplain, the Very Rev Gerald Stranraer-Mull, until recently director of the Oil Chaplaincy Trust, and the Rev Brian Kilkerr, Aberdeen, Apostleship of the Sea Port Chaplain for Aberdeen.
The service will be attended by a member of the Royal Family and by the First Minister, the Rt Hon Alex Salmond, as well as survivors, the families of those who died and hundreds of those who work in the industry onshore and offshore. A candle will be lit for each of those who died as the name and occupation are read. A wreath laying ceremony at the Piper Alpha Memorial in Hazlehead Park will follow the service at Saint Nicholas'.
The Bishop of Aberdeen and Orkney, the Rt Rev Dr Robert Gillies, says "The Piper Alpha oil disaster cast a deep shadow over the city of Aberdeen and beyond. The memory of that horrific tragedy has become acutely focussed in the city's thinking. It is therefore right that the memory of those who died, with prayers for those for whom heartache and suffering continues, is to centre around ecumenical worship at St Nicholas' Church in the City Centre and wreath laying at Hazlehead. But along with the sadness this will rekindle, there is also the appreciation of the way rescue, medical and pastoral services combined both in the acuteness of the emergency and for long periods of attention afterwards. For this, and for the expression of loving compassion, I give thanks."
Category: Bishops, Dioceses, Aberdeen & Orkney, General
