PEOPLE whose loved ones died in crashes on North Yorkshire roads stood hand in hand for a poignant act of remembrance at a special service at Ripon Cathedral.

Moments before, strains of Bach's moving Adagio in A Minor had resounded through the Cathedral Church of St Peter and St Wilfrid as many of the relatives and friends filed up to the altar to lay symbolic oak leaf-shaped cards bearing the names of crash victims.

About 100 people, including members of the emergency services and civic dignitaries, attended the annual Oak Leaf Remembrance Service on Sunday in memory of the 78 people who have died in crashes on the county's roads in the last year, and of those who died in the same way in years gone by.

After The Dean of Ripon, The Very Rev John Methuen, led the act of remembrance, Superintendent David Short, operations commander for North Yorkshire Police's Eastern Area, read: "Softly the leaves of memory fall, gently I gather and treasure them all. Unseen, unheard, you are always near, so missed, so loved, so very dear."

"Today we wish we did not have to be here," the Rev David Hoskins, chaplain of Harrogate District Hospital, told the congregation in his address.

"I believe that strangely and wonderfully today you will find healing and hopefully you will find strength and courage for your journey."

He told how, as a hospital chaplain, he had seen people's grief take many forms, and that all were normal. Despite the pain that a sudden loss brought, people should still trust in God, he added.

He said those present shared a real affinity with the families who had lost loved ones in the September 11 tragedy and last week's air crash in New York.

"Your tragic experience makes you understand better than most of us just what that is like."

Earlier, Peter Mortimer, area officer for Tees East and North Yorkshire Ambulance Service, read the touching verse, God's Lent Child, by Christopher J Wren. Candles were lit and prayers offered at stages throughout the service by the Rev Philip Carrington, county chaplain for the Order of St John, Coun Trevor and Mrs Elizabeth Walton, the mayor and mayoress of Pateley Bridge, and David Lindsay, road safety officer at North Yorkshire County Council.

Prayers were offered for the bereaved, emergency services, road users and those who work to boost road safety.

Before the service, Supt Short, who has worked closely with the Evening Press on our Arrive Alive campaign to cut motorcycle deaths, said: "The service provides an opportunity to emphasise the responsibility of all members of society in reducing road danger."

Updated: 10:38 Monday, November 19, 2001