Christmas carols to honour Shrewsbury river tragedy victims and raise safety funds
A Christmas carol concert will be held in memory of two Shrewsbury river tragedy victims and to thank emergency workers.
Families and friends of Nathan Fleetwood, aged 21, and Toby Jones, aged 31, will be facing their first Christmas without the young men, who lost their lives in the River Severn in Shrewsbury earlier this year.
This Saturday, at St Mary's Church in the town centre, they will be joined in song by river safety activists, emergency personnel and the St Giles Church community choir for a festive concert in a show of support, which will also raise money for the Make Our River Safer campaign.
Leading the service will be the Bishop of Shrewsbury Sarah Bullock with Reverend Andrew Knight. Also expected to attend are Shrewsbury mayor Elisabeth Roberts.
The event, which is free for anyone who would like to attend, was organised by Ruth Bertenshaw, a friend of Nathan's.
She said: "I wanted to organise the service as mainly a thank you for all emergency personnel - for all their efforts during Covid and their ongoing work with river rescues.
"I wanted to find a way to say thank you to those involved and so came up with the idea of a joint carol service just to be able to give back a little and say thank you.
"This event is to raise money for St Mary’s Church stained glass restoration project and the Make our River Safer campaign - of which I’ve now joined as part of the team to work alongside Victoria Ireland and help the cause."
The concert starts at 6.30pm. Donations to the two causes are welcomed.
