Murdered MP remembered as ‘Mr Southend’ at vigil in his memory


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Sir David Amess has been remembered as “Mr Southend” at a vigil held in his memory.

Born in east London, the 69-year-old had been Southend West MP since 1997 – and was a keen advocate of the town’s bid for city status.

A service at Saint Peter’s Church in Eastwood Lane, close to where Amess was killed, was held on Friday evening to remember him – where he was described by a priest as “Mr Southend”.

Sir David Amess death
People attend a Catholic mass at St Peter’s church in Eastwood (Nick Ansell/PA)

The church fell silent as Father Jeffrey Woolnaugh paid tribute to the Conservative MP and invited his constituents to remember him.

He placed a photograph of Amess at the front of the church, and said:

Read on...

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This liturgy is one I was not expecting to lead today.

The whole world grieves. In this Mass we pray for the repose of the soul of dear David.

Have you ever known Sir David Amess without that happy smile on his face? Because the greeting he would always give you was that happy smile.

He carried that great east London spirit of having no fear and being able to talk to people and the level they’re at. Not all politicians, I would say, are good at that.

Sir David Amess death
A photograph of Sir David Amess in St Peter’s church in Eastwood (Nick Ansell/PA)

Vigil

Around 80 people attended the service and listened as Father Woolnough recounted his own memories of Amess.

He said:

When you can speak to your MP and you can talk and get on like a house on fire, that’s when you can talk to them later about things that are important to your area.

What can we say? He died doing the thing he loved, meeting his constituents, his local people.

Father Woolnough added that his constituents could “count on” Sir David, and said:

He was always available. We don’t have the words tonight.

Dear Sir David, rest well.”

Those who attended the vigil were invited to light a candle and share their own memories of Amess. A lone candle placed outside the church burned as the Tory MP’s constituents remembered him.

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  • Show Comments

    1. God, the hypocrisy of it all! Amess was the only MP ever to be called a “Wally” in the House, by the Prme Minister (John Major) yet! He’d seen a spoof documentary by the programme “Brass Eye” about a supposed new drug called “Cake” that was supposedly sweeping the country, and HE THOUGHT IT WAS REAL! He tabled a question during Prime Minister’s Question Time asking the PM what he was doing about it, and wondered why EVERY OTHER MP IN THE HOUSE, FROM ALL PARTIES were laughing their rocks off! Even John Major shouted “It was a joke, you wally!” Ames was MP for Basildon at the time (only because the previous incumbent, Harvey Proctor, had been outed as a paedo); he switched to Southend when their previous incumbent, Teddy Taylor, had been outed as a fascist; Southend would elect a hat-stand if it wore a blue rosette! Oh wait, they did.

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    2. Although this is an avoidable death (murders always are) it happened on the same day as 146 people died of Covid, which has been mismanaged from the beginning by the very party this poor man was part of. I had to search for the article that mentioned those 146 deaths, I would’ve had to be deaf and blind to not be bombarded with the news of this one death. Context is blurred in all media outlets, even the Canary it seems. RIP to The MP for S.O.S. and RIP to the hundreds of thousands of innocent people in this country who have died for herd immunity too.

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    3. This man was typical of the rest of the self-serving, greedy & corrupt politician that degrades life for those ‘not one of us’ as Thatcher called her ghastly chums.

      He never once called for the release of Assange. Never once criticised Austerity or the spending of billions on weapons of war & voted to cut Universal Credit. He never once defended the NHS & voted for all the destructive legislation arranged by the Tory Party of Death.

      This man was not a friend of ‘the people or voter’ as his worshippers paint him but a died in the wool very nasty Tory. How did Queen put it ? ‘Another one bites the dust.’

      The sound we all hear is the white wash being liberally spread across devastated

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