A WARTIME bombing tragedy which rocked a small mining community was finally given official recognition at the weekend.

Sixty-two years after the event, a sculpted memorial stone was unveiled bearing the names of the eight people who lost their lives following a German bombing mission over County Durham.

Three bombs were dropped by the Luftwaffe over the village of Beamish, near two old railway lines, on Friday May 1, 1942, at 3am.

One damaged houses and shops in Station Road; a second, fused with a six-hour delay, exploded on the colliery railway embankment; but the third lay undiscovered after plunging through the roof of a nearby building, the rear quarters of a shop, becoming buried in the foundations.

It was on an 18-hour time delay and duly exploded that evening, destroying surrounding houses, causing the eight deaths, seriously wounding seven others and leaving a further 28 casualties.

The dead included three children, Sylvia Spence, ten, eight-year-old Irene Seymour and Clive Lawson, the nine-year-old adopted son of local MP Jack Lawson, later to become Labour peer Lord Lawson of Beamish.

Special Constables Sam Edgell, 63, and Robert Reay, 61, were also killed.

The other victims were 17-year-old Gwen Hannant, Matilda Seymour, the 77-year-old grandmother of Irene, and Sylvia's mother, 45-year-old Elizabeth Ann Spence.

Little was reported of the tragedy at the time due to the wartime black-out on bad news, but the story of the raid was researched by local historian Jack Hair, who published a book, The Bombs at Beamish.

Following its publication, calls for a fitting memorial won widespread local support, leading to the creation of the garden and commemorative stone.

It was unveiled by North Durham MP Kevan Jones during a dedication service on Saturday.

He said it was a chance to remember some of the "forgotten" victims of the war.

Durham Police choir and band performed at the service, which was attended by relatives of the dead and several survivors of the incident.