PARENTS of a firefighter killed in a blaze at Sun Valley Foods will attend a memorial service for their son this weekend.

Bernard and Joy Davies will gather at the National Firefighters Service of Remembrance in London to pay tribute to Leominster fireman John Davies.

Mr Davies and his colleague David Morris, from Hereford, were two of the first firefighters on the scene after a massive blaze ripped through the Hereford poultry factory on September 6, 1993.

At the height of the blaze, caused by a defrosting machine, 120 firefighters from Herefordshire, Worcestershire, Gloucestershire and Gwent fought choking fumes and intense heat to bring the burning building under control.

A plume of smoke could be seen 15 miles away.

Mr Davies, aged 34, and 35-year-old Mr Morris were killed when the roof of the Corbett block collapsed, trapping them inside.

Among those also remembered at the service at St Giles' Church in the City of London on Sunday, September 10, will be firefighter Keith Marshall and station officer Robert Crampin, who died in a fire at Hurcott Mills, Kidderminster, in March 1974.

"The memorial is a way of reassuring relatives that the fire service have not forgotten, and it demonstrates the support that the fire service can give to relatives," said station officer John Hodges, station officer at Hereford and Worcester fire headquarters.

"The service is for all brigades across the country and families find it beneficial to meet other families who have gone through the same experience."

Councillor Linda Townley, representing the Hereford & Worcester Combined Fire Authority, will later watch assistant chief fire officer Frank Norton lay a wreath in St Paul's Cathedral.