Rev Colin Renwick confirmed Dunblane Cathedral will be open to allow locals to mourn.
Dunblane locals will mark the 30-year anniversary of the massacre with “quiet dignity and respect”, the minister of the town’s cathedral has said.
Rev Colin Renwick, who moved to Dunblane Cathedral 12 years ago, said the 16 children and their teacher who were murdered “will never be forgotten”.
Dunblane Cathedral will be open until 8pm on Friday, March 12, the day of the anniversary of the school shooting, to allow for “quiet and respectful remembering”. Other churches in the area will also be open.
Some Dunblane residents will also be placing candles in their windows as a “quiet way to remember and pay their respects”.
The massacre in the Stirlingshire town, where 16 children and their teacher Gwen Mayor died, shocked the nation and led to the UK enforcing some of the strictest firearms legislation in the world.
The Church of Scotland also released some remarks from Rev Renwick, as well as a special prayer he will read at Dunblane Cathedral on Sunday March 15.
Rev Renwick said: “For those people whose lives were shattered by the tragic events in Dunblane on March 13 1996, remembering is not confined to particular anniversaries. There are still those who, every day, think of a child they lost.
“Each birthday, each Christmas, the marriage of a sibling or contemporary, and many other events, still bring times of poignant remembering and wishing things had been different.”
He continued: “The 16 children of Dunblane who died that day, and the teacher who died trying to protect them, will never be forgotten.
“Nor will people forget the determination and persistence of those who campaigned so hard to ensure that the gun laws in the United Kingdom were changed, making this country a safer place.
“Thirty years on, the people of Dunblane will, as they have always done, remember with quiet dignity and respect.
“It is important that people are given the space, opportunity and peace to remember and grieve in ways that are appropriate to them.”
Dunblane Cathedral contains a stone memorial to the victims of the tragedy.
Rev Renwick’s prayer includes a reference to the snowdrop campaign, which achieved a ban on UK private handgun ownership in the wake of the tragedy.
One part of the prayer reads: “As the fragile snowdrop breaks through the cold winter earth, and somehow endures the elements that buffet it,
“We give thanks for the resilience of many, and for the determination, arising out of tragedy, that this country should be a safer place than it used to be.”
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