Waterford football club forms guard of honour at English family funeral

Young players from Johnville FC stood as a guard of honour while the coffins of Philip and Kim English and their sons Callum, 12, and Jayden, 9, were brought into Sacred Heart Church, The Folly, Waterford on Sunday.

The family died after a petrol‑bomb attack on their Birchwood estate home at about 5 am last Tuesday. Four hearses arrived at the church shortly before 2 pm, with the children’s white coffins placed between those of their parents.

Inside, the Irish tricolour, a Waterford flag and a Liverpool FC jersey – the club favoured by Callum and his father – draped the coffins, while four candles burned before a family photograph. Parish priest Fr Gerry Chestnutt blessed each coffin before they were moved to a room in the adjoining parish centre for removal.

Johnville FC members, wearing the club’s black and yellow jerseys, lined a low wall outside the centre, awaiting their turn to pay respects. The club has permanently retired the number five jersey in tribute to Callum.

A joint funeral mass is scheduled for tomorrow at 1 pm in Sacred Heart Church, followed by burial in Kilbarry cemetery. Two children rescued from the blaze – a 14‑year‑old girl and a 6‑year‑old boy – remain in critical condition at the Children’s Hospital in Crumlin, Dublin, and mourners have been asked to donate to the hospital in lieu of flowers.

Source: Irish Examiner. Photo: Pavel Danilyuk / Pexels.