A SERVICE has been held in east Belfast to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the death of PUP leader David Ervine.
The commemoration took place on the city's Albertbridge Road beside a mural which commemorates the life of the unionist politician.
Mr Ervine, who was instrumental in bringing about the 1994 loyalist ceasefire, died in hospital on January 8, 2007, after he took ill watching a football match at the city's Oval.
A number of Mr Ervine's family members plus serveral political colleagues took part in the memorial ceremony on Saturday.
“I just miss him so much in my life as people here do, because David was positive and would have always drawn something positive out of the negative, and I think he’s just very much missed in political circles," Mr Ervine's widow Jeanette told ITV.
“Many people were still in that mind-set of war, he talked to them extensively.
"There are some you will never change their mind and they will always have that attitude but in the majority, he made things different and I’m proud of him for that.”
PUP deputy leader Dr John Kyle, who addressed the event, said Mr Ervine was “a passionate politician who really cared for the people”.
“He was a very honest man, sometimes uncomfortably honest, and I think sometimes that contrasts with what we’re living with today," he added.
“He wasn’t a complainer, he was continually looking to work with people, to reach out to people to find solutions that improved a lot for the common man."
