VILLAGERS who survived a wartime bombing raid are to remember those who died, in a ceremony this weekend.

Eight people were killed and more than 30 injured when a German bomber dropped its deadly load over Beamish, near Stanley, on Friday, May 1, 1942.

A trio of 1,000lb bombs tore into the village at about 3am. The first exploded on impact in Station Road, damaging houses and shops.

A second, fitted with a time delay fuse, blew up on a colliery railway embankment at 9am.

Villagers thought they had had a lucky escape. But a third bomb lay undiscovered after plunging through the roof of a house and burying itself in the foundations.

Just after 9pm, it brought death and destruction on the unsuspecting residents.

Among the dead were three children who had been playing in the street - Sylvia Johnson, aged ten, Irene Seymour, eight, and Clive Lawson, nine.

Clive was the adopted son of MP Jack Lawson, who later became the Labour peer, Lord Lawson of Beamish.

The explosion also claimed the lives of Special Constables Robert Reay, 61, who died instantly, and Samuel Edgell, 63, who later died in hospital.

The other victims were teenager Gwendoline Hannant, Matilda Seymour, 77, and Elizabeth Ann Spence, 45.

The blast destroyed several houses, damaged many more and uprooted trees.

A commemorative garden and memorial stone has been installed in the village and will be unveiled this weekend, before villagers who survived the devastation, and relatives of those who died.

It follows six years of work by local historian Jack Hair and South Moor Local History Group.

Mr Hair, a retired civil engineering foreman, said: "Someone once asked me how many people died in the bombing and at that time, I had no idea.

"I started to delve into the past and then developed it as a project."

Donations from Durham Police Chief Constable Paul Garvin and Durham county councillors Jim Cordon, David Marshall and Les Vaux made the memorial possible.

The stone sculpture and garden will be unveiled by North Durham MP Kevan Jones opposite Peggy's Wicket, in Beamish Village, at 2pm on Saturday.

Representatives of the Special Constabulary will attend and the Durham Police choir and band will perform