A MEMORIAL to the seven workers who lost their lives during the construction of the Tamar Bridge was unveiled on Tuesday.

A number of relatives, friends and former bridge workers assembled for a short dedication ceremony around the memorial which is at the Plymouth end of the bridge adjacent to the car park.

They were joined by the Lord Mayor of Plymouth, cllr Peter Brookshaw, and the Lady Mayoress, Brenda Brookshaw. The mayor of Saltash, cllr Colin Oakes, and the joint chairmen of the Tamar Bridge/Torpoint Ferry Committee, cllrs Mike Pearn and Martin Leaves were also in attendance.

Rev Stephen Beach, vicar of Higher St Budeaux Parish Church, dedicated the plaque with a short prayer, and flowers were laid by the representatives from Plymouth and Saltash, and also by Mike Pender, Tamar Bridge operations manager.

It was a poignant moment for Mr Pender, whose own father, Christopher Pender, was one of the workmen who lost their lives. At the time he was just 18 months old.

The plaque is mounted in striking stainless steel frame in the form of the Tamar Bridge towers.

David List, the general manager of the joint committee, said: 'A review of the bridge's first 50 years highlighted the lack of any visible recognition of these lives so tragically lost and the joint committee was keen to fund a tangible memorial.'

Also among those attending were twin sisters Doris Drake and Pat Townsend who were 17 when their brother Brian Steele lost his life at the age of 21.

The Lady Mayoress, Mrs Brookshaw, said her next door neighbour George Coleman had also died.

Five of those remembered died in the tragedy which occurred on a Sunday afternoon in April 1960.

Fifteen men were returning to the shore after working on the bridge, when their boat was caught in a whirlpool current and sank.

An eyewitness on the Saltash ferry at the time said the boat was full and some were standing.

Those who died were named as: Arthur George Coleman (44), Christopher Pender (29), Robert G Risk (60), Stanley L Snowden (30), and Brian Steele (21).

The other two men remembered on the memorial plaque are Donald Moore, aged 40, who fell while working on the bridge in May 1961, and John Graham, who also fell from the bridge in January 1962.