BIRKENHEAD finds national fame from the grave this Saturday, June 12. The town hosts the annual meeting of the National Federation of Cemetery Friends at Birkenhead Town Hall, overlooking the Cenotaph.

Delegates will be given a tour of the historic and once vandalised Flaybrick Cemetery in the North End. Famous people buried there include Sir William Jackson, one of the elders of Birkenhead, and James Cochran, who built the Resurgam, the world's first mechanically powered submarine.

A full-time ranger is now based at conserved Flaybrick Cemetery to stop vandals and drugtakers. He is supported by an active Friends of Flaybrick group.

After lunch, delegates will be given a tour of Birkenhead Priory by Wirral Museum Office, David Hillhouse. Wirral Council has just turned the tall St Mary's Tower at the ancient Priory into a lasting memorial for the 99 men who died aboard Birkenhead-built submarine Thetis.

A moving ceremony on Saturday marked the 60th anniversary of the tragedy. The Thetis bell was tolled as the 99 names were read out, plus the few names of the survivors who have died since.

The 99 steps up the tower each has a victim's name, the 100th is for the diver who died and the top step is for the survivors' names.

Ironically, heavy rain lashed the congregation standing for the commemorative service. When the plaque was blessed the sun came out, as though the scandal surrounding Thetis was being exorcised.

Thetis sank June 1/2, 1939, and was salvaged to be relaunched for WWII as Thunderbolt. Again, in another touch of irony, the London Gazette on June 2, 1943, reported that Thunderbolt had been lost four years and a day after her first fatal dive.

On Sunday, there was the annual Thetis ceremony at Holyhead, off where Thetis went down. On Monday morning there were thunderbolts in Liverpool Bay during torrential rain. RIP.

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