Rugby players remembered 50 years after plane crash

Eighteen members of Bury Rigby Club, including players, supporters and officials died in the 1974 plane crash

Eighteen members of the same rugby club who died in a plane crash 50 years ago are being commemorated.

The members of Bury St Edmunds Rugby Union Football Club died when a Turkish Airlines plane crashed on 3 March 1974 in Ermonville, near Paris.

Heidi Tilbrook's uncle died in the crash and her father sold his ticket at the last minute, which had a profound impact on him for the rest of his life, she said.

Family members of those who died are marking the anniversary with a charity bike ride from France to Suffolk.

Family members of members of Bury Rugby Club killed in the crash are among 60 cyclists taking part

'Massive impact'

Organiser Austin Cornish, whose father Laurie died in the crash, said: "It is so important that we continue to keep their memories alive."

Sixty cyclists are taking part in the six-day, 390 mile challenge from just outside Paris to Bury St Edmunds, arriving on Sunday.

Members of the club were returning home after watching a France-England rugby international in Paris.

All 346 people on board the plane were killed.

Mr Cornish was three years old when his father was killed.

"He only got offered his ticket 10 days before the crash by somebody," he said.

"There were 10 widows, 21 children lost their fathers and partners on that day so it had a massive impact on the rugby club and the town."

Businessman Laurie Cornish died in the 1974 air disaster aged 39

'My father saw his own death certificate'

Heidi Tilbrook's father Chris was the first team captain and due to travel to France but sold his ticket after his wife pleaded with him not to go when he injured his back.

Ms Tilbrook said: "My father actually saw his own death certificate, they thought he was on the plane but he wasn't.

"He sold his ticket to a young guy called Nick Jones, who unfortunately was the youngest guy from the rugby club to die on that trip."

Following the crash Mr Tilbrook travelled to France to identify belongings and the bodies of those who had died, including his brother.

She later realised her father's kindness to strangers, always offering lifts to hitchhikers or people waiting at railway stations was an "obsession with making sure people got home".

"It must have stemmed all from his brother and his friends not coming home," she said.

Also killed in the crash was club chairman Bryan Ellis, on what was his son Gordon Ellis's eighth birthday.

Mr Ellis said there was a "huge bond" at the club and the family members of those who died.

The ride will raise money for St Nicholas Hospice Care and a new all weather pitch at Bury Rugby Club.