Wigan Album

I can't believe it's coming up to 14 years ago. I was at the funeral It only seems like a couple of years ago. His two sons will be young men now I hope they know their dad was a hero.
MEP report..... More than 1,000 mourners paid tribute to a Royal Marine shot dead in Afghanistan.
Hundreds of people packed Wigan Parish Church and the grounds outside for the funeral of Sgt Steven Darbyshire, 35.
The father-of-two was on a security patrol in the notorious Sangin district – which British forces are to leave – when he was involved in a firefight on June 23. The patrol with the Afghan National Army was ambushed and Sgt Darbyshire was fatally wounded.
His coffin, draped in the Union flag, was carried into the church and there was applause as his partner, Kate Rowe and their children Callum, five, and Ryan, three, walked behind, with the boys dressed in England football strips.
Sgt Darbyshire joined the Royal Marines in 1996 and had served in Northern Ireland and Iraq. Lt Col Paul James, Commanding Officer, 40 Commando Group, said: “I knew him to be a charismatic, loyal, determined and dedicated sergeant with an irrepressible and infectious sense of humour.”
* A British soldier from 5th Regiment Royal Artillery became the 100th member of British forces to be killed in Sangin, the MoD announced on Thursday.