Express & Star

Public memorial service to be held for young Stafford fire victims

A memorial service to celebrate the lives of four children who died in a house fire in Stafford will be held on Thursday, March at 6.30pm.

Published
Riley, Keegan, Tilly Rose, and Olly all died in the fire - a two-year-old boy survived

People from the Highfields community and the wider Stafford area are invited to the memorial service at St Mary’s Collegiate Church in Stafford town centre.

They are encouraged to wear bright-coloured clothes and bring a teddy bear.

The hour-long service will feature tributes to the children from their school teachers and singing and prayers by pupils at their schools, Marshlands Primary and Castlechurch Primary.

There will also be solo songs from local singers Leanne Ewins and Neil Mason and music from Rising Brook Community Church.

People will be able to make donations in the children’s memories for the Ambulance Staff Charity, the Fire Fighters Charity and Staffordshire Police, and prayers will be said for the emergency services who attended the fire.

Riley Holt, age eight, Keegan Unitt, six, Tilly Rose Unitt, four, and Olly Unitt, age three, died in the fire at their home in Highfields on February 5.

A private funeral for family and close friends took place at Stafford crematorium on Monday, March 12.

The Revd Philip Sowerbutts, Vicar of Castle Church in Highfields, will speak at the service.

He said: “This is an opportunity for everyone who knew Riley, Keegan, Tilly Rose and Olly to come together and celebrate their lives and all that they meant to those who knew and loved them. The Highfields community has been devastated by their loss but we want to remember the children in a hopeful and life-affirming way.”