A SPECIAL service will be held to mark the 70th anniversary of the Southampton Blitz at St Mary’s Church, in St Mary Street, on November 30 – the day the church lost its roof during a German bombing raid.

The service starts at 7pm and will include contributions from local Blitz survivors.

Among those present will be Mayor of Southampton Cllr Carol Cunio and the Bishop of Winchester, the Right Reverend Michael Scott-Joynt.

The air raids of November 23, November 30 December 1 1940 are often referred to as Southampton’s Blitz, in which seven churches and many other buildings were destroyed in three days of bombing.

Organisers the Southampton Christian Network said the service was prompted by the discovery of a Second World War bomb in the city in March this year.