Lockerbie

infobox UK place
country = Scotland
official_name= Lockerbie
gaelic_name= Logarbaidh
scots_name= Lockerbie
population= 4,009 (Census 2001)
latitude= 55.120
longitude= -3.357
os_grid_reference= NY135815
map_type=
unitary_scotland= Dumfries and Galloway
lieutenancy_scotland= Dumfries
constituency_westminster= Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale & Tweeddale
constituency_scottish_parliament= Dumfries
post_town= LOCKERBIE
postcode_district = DG11
postcode_area= DG
dial_code= 01576
static_

static_image_caption=Lockerbie Town Hall

Lockerbie (Scottish Gaelic: "Logarbaidh") is a town in the Dumfries and Galloway region of south-western Scotland. It lies approximately 75 miles from Glasgow, and convert|20|mi|km from the English border. It is a small town, with a population of just 4,009 at the 2001 census.

Lockerbie has a well developed transport network for a town its size. It lies next to the A74(M) motorway and has a railway station on the main Glasgow–London West Coast Main Line. Lockerbie's town hall is its most imposing building and is an excellent example of Scottish baronial style, built in the typical local red sandstone. The building looks over a war memorial built after the Second World War, with its characteristic bronze statue of an angel atop a white base with inscriptions.

Historically the town has been a trading post for both cattle and sheep. Because of its proximity to the borders, the cattle trade with England dominated local economy for a long time. The town is home to sheep auctioning to this day.

On the southern outskirts of the town (approximately convert|3|mi|km from Lockerbie along the C92 (a) road to Dalton) are the remains of a 2nd World War POW camp. This was the base for about 500 Ukrainians who were moved here after the war.These were volunteers from the Galizien Division of the Waffen SS. They built a chapel which remains and presently holds Ukrainian services to this day on the first Sunday of every alternate month.

Lockerbie bombing

Lockerbie is known internationally as the site where, on December 21, 1988, the wreckage of Pan Am Flight 103 crashed as a result of a terrorist bomb. In the UK the event is referred to as the Lockerbie "disaster", the Lockerbie "bombing", or simply "Lockerbie". Eleven townspeople were killed in Sherwood Crescent, where the plane's wings and fuel tanks plummeted in a fiery explosion, leaving a huge crater. The 270 fatalities (259 on the plane, 11 in Lockerbie) were citizens of 21 nations. Of them, 189 were Americans.

The subsequent police investigation was the largest ever mounted in Scottish history and became a murder inquiry when evidence of a bomb was found. Two men accused of being Libyan intelligence agents were eventually charged in 1991 with planting the bomb. It took a further nine years to bring the accused to trial. Abdelbaset ali Mohmed al-Megrahi was jailed for life in January 2001 following the 84-day Pan Am Flight 103 bombing trial under Scottish law, at Camp Zeist, Netherlands. His co-accused, Al Amin Khalifa Fhimah, was acquitted, and returned to Libya. In March 2002, Megrahi's appeal against his conviction was rejected, and he remains in Greenock jail, near Glasgow. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/21/newsid_2539000/2539447.stm BBC's "on this day" website] ] In September 2003, the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission started a review of Megrahi's case, and granted him a second appeal on June 28, 2007 against his conviction for the Lockerbie bombing. [ [http://www.sccrc.org.uk/ViewFile.aspx?id=293 SCCRC's decision on Megrahi's second appeal against conviction] ]

American Playwright Deborah Brevoort is the author of "The Women Of Lockerbie", a play loosley based on a true story surrounding this event, about a mother from New Jersey who roams the hills of Lockerbie Scotland, looking for her son’s remains which were lost in the crash of Pan Am 103. She meets the Women of Lockerbie, who are fighting the US Government to obtain the clothing of the victims found in the plane’s wreckage. The women, determined to convert an act of hatred into an act of love, want to wash the clothes of the dead and return them to the victim’s families.

Lockerbie Academy

Lockerbie Academy, the town's public high school, became the headquarters for the response and recovery effort after the Pan Am Flight 103 disaster. Subsequently, the academy, in cooperation with Syracuse University of Syracuse, New York, USA, which lost 35 students in the bombing, established a scholarship at the university for two of its most outstanding graduating students. Each year, two graduating students spend one academic year at Syracuse University as Lockerbie Scholars before they begin their university study. The scholarships have led to a lasting relationship between the university and the town. The rector of Lockerbie Academy, Graham Herbert, was recognised in November 2003 at Syracuse University with the Chancellor's Medal for outstanding service.

A former student of the Academy, Helen Jones, was killed in the 7 July 2005 London bombings. In her memory, a new scholarship has been set up, awarding £1000 towards further education to aspiring accounting students from the Academy. [ [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,22989-1689496_2,00.html Helen Jones' scholarship] ]

Lockerbie Drama Club

Lockerbie Drama Club was formed before the Second World War by members of local churches. Originally known as Lockerbie Churches Drama Club, plays were performed in the town hall. In 1964 the club acquired land at the corner of Well Street and Well Road, along with a prefab corrugated iron building that had been a workshop in the Technical department at Lockerbie Academy. This building became the Little Theatre. Lockerbie Drama Club puts on two plays per year and holds play readings during the summer. [ [http://www.lockerbiedramaclub.net Lockerbie Drama Club] ]

Lockerbie Ice Rink

Located across the road from Lockerbie Academy, it is one of the oldest indoor ice rinks in the country. Built in 1966 it has a long successful history. In curling it has given rise to World and European Champions and Olympians in the adult, senior and junior disciplines. It also provides skating at most weekends. The ice rink is closed between April and September. It has also recently received funding for a new roof.

Dryfesdale Lodge Visitors' Centre

Dryfesdale Lodge Visitors' Centre, formerly a cemetery worker's cottage, was opened on 25 October 2003 after extensive renovation work funded by the Lockerbie Trust and is maintained with grant assistance from Dumfries & Galloway Council. The Lodge's vision is that it should be a living, growing, flexible facility that can respond to the needs of visitors and the community.

There are two exhibition rooms in the Lodge and also the Dryfesdale Room that is used as a quiet room for visitors to reflect. A permanent exhibition room displays ten history panels depicting Lockerbie's unique past stretching from its pre-historic origins to 1988's terrorist attack and beyond. Located within the cemetery grounds, just a short walk away, is the Lockerbie Memorial Garden of Remembrance.

Dryfesdale Lodge Visitors' Centre is not just a memorial to the disaster but is also a tribute to the community of Lockerbie and in its short life has already had many hundreds of visitors from home and abroad.

References

ee also

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garden_of_Remembrance_(Lockerbie) Garden of Remembrance at the Lockerbie cemetery]

External links

* [http://i-p-o.org/lockerbie_observer_mission.htm Lockerbie Trial Web Site] of the UN-appointed observer Dr. Hans Köchler
* [http://undergraduatestudies.syr.edu/Lockerbiescholars/scholars.html A List of the Lockerbie Scholars at Syracuse University]
* [http://guide.visitscotland.com/vs/guide/5,en,SCH1/objectId,SIG49048Svs,curr,GBP,season,at1,selectedEntry,home/home.html VisitScotand entry for the Ukrainian POW Chapel]
* [http://www.dryfesdalelodge.org.uk The Dryfesdale Lodge Visitors' Centre Website]
* [http://www.millenniumtraining.info Millennium Training Consultant's of Lockerbie Website]