MP JONATHAN Reynolds was joined by Tameside councillors, fellow policemen and the community at a service to mark the ninth anniversary of the murder of two policewomen.
Respects were paid and tears were shed as people gathered at Hattersley’s Hub for the memorial to PCs Nicola Hughes and Fiona Bone.
The pair were killed in an ambush at a nearby house on September 18, 2012 – a day that remains vivid in the mind of Tameside Mayor and local councillor Janet Cooper’s mind.
She told the service: “I feel very emotional. We’ll never ever forget that day.
“No-one should ever go to work and not come home.”
Cllr Cooper was joined by ward colleagues Jacqueline North and Jacqueline Owen, as well as Betty Affleck, who also gave an address at the ceremony.
MP Reynolds added: “I’ll never forget how I found out. It was hard for people around here.
“As time goes on, it becomes easier but that doesn’t mean the memory ever goes away.”
Local vicars, the Rev Denise Hayes and Kate Walker also attended, while Dilys Parker, chair of the Hattersley and Mottram Community Forum, representatives from the neighbouring Tesco supermarket and Remembrance Funeral Community Services also laid flowers.
Dilys said: “They’ll be remembered always.”