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This was the 76th Anniversary of this terrible tragedy and organised by the DLI.
Eight trainees of the Durham Light Infantry and two trainees of the Duke of Wellington’s Regiment, engaged in a river crossing exercise, were swept in their boat over the weir as a result of strong currents and floods. Weighed down by their equipment, not one of the eighteen-year-old soldiers survived.
As usually happened in such tragedies the MOD or authorities tried cover up this tragic accident.
The memory of this incident was kept alive over the years by Vera Vaggs, a teenage girl living nearby and a local councillor and Burnett Seyburn, a former DLI soldier. In 1995 a memorial was raised to the memory of the drowned soldiers. In 2002 repairs and additions were made to the wooden memorial carved by Charlie Dicks, which had suffered the ravages of time and vandalism. On the 7th June 2004 a new permanent stone memorial, financed with the help of ASDA was dedicated.