THE familes of three teenagers who died in the Greenvale Hotel crush will mark the first anniversary of the tragedy today.
Morgan Barnard (17), Lauren Bullock (17) and 16-year-old Connor Currie died as they queued to get into the Cookstown venue on March 17 last year.
The disaster caused widespread shock across Ireland and sparked an outpouring of grief across counties Tyrone, Derry and Armagh.
A specially made banner paying tribute to the teenagers which was due to be carried in a cancelled St Patrick’s Day parade in Dungannon will now be put on display on a fence at Morgan's home today.
Church restrictions introduced as a result of the Coronavirus scare have resulted in a special anniversary Mass for Lauren being postponed
Parish administrator Fr David Moore said: "I am supporting the family as best I can and we have come to the decision that we will hold a celebration in memory of Lauren at a later date."
A similar Mass arranged for Morgan has also been called off.
In an interview with the Irish News this week his mother Maria Barnard said there is not escape from the tragedy.
"I used to think to myself `How can you think of somebody all the time?' before all this happened to me," she said.
"It's so true, every second of the day I am constantly thinking about Morgan.
"It's so exhausting sometimes because your brain is mentally exhausted."
His father James Bradley also spoke of the constant burden he carries.
"It's the hardest thing, without fear of contradiction that I will ever face," he said.
"I would safely say the same for Maria."
His son's death has left a huge gap in family life.
"I know people say and it’s a cliché, 'there's something missing'," he said
"There really is, there really is in this family. There is a massive part stolen away from us. I can't emphasise how massive his presence was around us. You close your eyes and think ‘is this real'."
