The widow of a fishing boat tragedy has helped a north-east Mission raise vital funds over Christmas.
Shirley Henderson lost her husband, Robert Stephen, when the trawler he was travelling on – the Sapphire – sank as it approached Peterhead on October 1, 1997.
He, Victor Podlesny, 45, Bruce Cameron, 32, and Adam Stephen, 29, all died in their bunks.
Only the skipper, Victor Robertson, survived.
Now, as the men’s families prepare for another year without their loved ones by their sides, the Fishermen’s Mission has appeared in a video produced by Peterhead Apex Church to call for the continued support of local people.
And in it, Mrs Henderson speaks of the help the charity offered her and her daughter, Darcie, who was three when her dad drowned.
She said: “I switched on the TV and the report of a boat being lost came on.
“Little did we know, 10-15 minutes later it was us – it was our boys, and our world stopped and changed forever.”
She had only spoken to Robert on the boat the night before.
Mrs Henderson, who later remarried and now also has a son, added that she would often joke that she would be “mad” if Robert ever caused a Missionary to knock their door.
“The saddest walk you can visualise is the Mission man coming up your path, knowing he’s got to tell you that news,” she said.
The men’s bodies were eventually recovered and buried after a £500,000 campaign to have the Sapphire raised from the sea floor.
Peterhead Mission superintendent Steve Murray said the charity provided a host of services to fishermen and their families.
“I suppose you could sum it up by saying it’s Christianity with its sleeves rolled up,” he added.
“Just as Jesus worked with people, caring for them, praying with them, loving them, then that’s what we aim to do here in our fishing community.”
The video comes as plans to convert the Fishermen’s Mission’s base at Union Street into private enterprises.
The charity will continue to operate out of a section of the property, but there are hopes that local people will come forward to run the bunkhouse and canteen as community businesses.