Mid and East Antrim Borough Council has organised events in May to mark the 85th anniversary of the Belfast Blitz. The commemorations remember victims born in the borough who died in the four German air raids of 1941 that killed 987 people.

Mayor Jackson Minford stated the council aims to support families of those victims and the public in remembering their relatives.

On May 5 at 11am, a public event will take place at the Ballycarry war memorial. The mayor and Lord Lieutenant will lay wreaths there.

Pupils from Ballycarry Primary School will place poppy crosses at graves in Templecorran Cemetery. The graves belong to seven members of the Hutchinson family and John McCready, aged 80.

John McCready, born in Glynn in the 1860s, worked as a butter and egg merchant in Belfast and died at his Upper Meadow Street home on April 16, 1941.

Sarah Kennedy, born in Ballycarry in 1894, married William Hutchinson in 1922. William worked as a painter and decorator from his York Street home in Belfast. William, aged 39, Sarah, aged 46, and their children Elizabeth, Sadie, Rita, Martin and May died in the Blitz.

A further event occurs at Ballycarry Community Centre on May 5 at 7.30pm. Mark Wigton of the Northern Ireland War Memorial will speak on the Blitz. Sharon Dickson and Geoff Hatt will present wartime storytelling and songs.

On May 6 at 7.30pm, an event at Ballymena Services Club will feature Sharon Dickson and Geoff Hatt. Nigel Henderson of History Hub Ulster will discuss Ballymena victims.

The council has collaborated with the Northern Ireland War Memorial to provide Blitz talks in borough schools. Historian Adrian Hack has given talks on Carrickfergus in the Second World War to schools there.