The 2010 Summer of Tragedy

In May/June 2010 West Cumbria was left reeling from a stream of traumas, just the night before the nightmare shootings by Derrick Bird , young people had paid a quiet tribute (pictured) to those who died in the A66 Keswick school bus tragedy of May24. At the Candlestick Car Park, Whitehaven hundreds of youngsters gathered to remember the recent School A66 Keswick School Bus Crash victims. This was a gathering of friends and fellow students contacted via FaceBook. Young people arrived by bus, taxi, car and on foot..and at 22.00 hours on May 31 2010 many Chinese laterns and balloons were released into the night sky.. But On Junbe 2 the second nightmare hit the area. Police have confirmed the following people died that day at the hands of gunman Derrick Bird: David Bird (twin brother of Derrick Bird), 52, was found dead at his house on High Trees Farm, Lamplugh. Kevin Joseph Commons, 60, of Frizington Road, Frizington who was found dead on his driveway. Darren Paul Rewcastle, 43, of Bank End Cottages, Bigrigg. He is a local taxi driver who was shot dead on Duke Street. Kenneth Fishburn, 71, of Bridge End, Egremont, who was found dead on the bridge at Bridge End, 50 metres from his home. Mother of two, Susan Hughes, 57, of Park View, Castle Croft, Egremont, died on Hagget End, Orgill, in Egremont. Isaac Dixon, 65, of Egremont, was found dead on the roadside between Hale and Egremont. Jennifer Jackson, 68, and James Jackson, 67, of Stockbridge, Wilton, were both found dead on the road in Wilton Village. Garry John Purdham, 31, of The Millfield, Beckermet, Gosforth. He was found dead in a field on the roadside next to the Red Admiral Pub on the A595. Jamie Michael Dennis Clark, 23, of St Pierre Avenue, Carlisle, formerly of Northall in Buckinghamshire, whose body was found in his car on the A5086. Michael James Pike, 64, of Wasdale Park, Seascale. He was a pedal cyclist who was shot dead on Drigg Road in Seascale. Jane Elizabeth Robinson, 66, of Drigg Road, Seascale, whose body was found on Drigg Road a few hundred yards from her home. And offender Derrick Bird, fifty-two, of Rowrah near Frizington, found dead in woods near Boot. Initial indications suggest he took his own life. Hundreds of West Cumbrians attended open air ceremonies at churches across the area including Whitehaven, Seascale and Egremont after the tragedies. The Keswick bus tragedy claimed the lives of Keswick School pupils Chloe Walker, 16, and Kieran Goulding, 15, lost their lives in the crash on Monday alongside car driver Patrick Short, 68.