event. The first ecumenical service to recognise the 1981 strike took place yesterday at St. Paul's AME church on Court Street.

"There's been a lot of blood, sweat and tears in these last 20 to 30 years,'' said Mr. Burgess, moments after the service, which attracted enough people to fill about half of the pews.

In attendance were key players in the 1981 drama, including Sir John Swan, who was Labour Minister at the time and was to take over leadership of the Government, the then BIU leader Ottiwell Simmons, activist Glenn Fubler and clergymen Reverend Larry Lowe and Canon Thomas Nesbitt. Also in the congregation were Government ministers -- Eugene Cox, Terry Lister, Paula Cox, Dame Lois Browne Evans and a sprinkling of senior civil servants.

Unsurprisingly for a service of this nature, protagonist and antagonist were at one.

Service remembers the struggle for workers' rights "Some things in history have to happen to help us grow,'' said Sir John Swan, when called upon to speak and read a passage of scripture.

"I admire the Government for what it is doing. I admire the Opposition for the role they are playing... and I admire the unions,'' he said.

And he called for a "true collective spirit that will guide each and every one of us as we reflect on the past''.

The Anglican church's Canon Thomas Nisbett told the congregation that he saw no reason to apologise for his role in the strike that practically crippled Bermuda for almost a month -- and led to concrete benefits for Island workers.

Rev. Nisbett said his involvement came after activist Glen Fubler asked him to help organise a programme for feeding children affected by the strike. He began to meet with others in the basement of St. Paul's Church but was soon confronted by members of the community who disapproved of the strikers' actions.

"We are interested in the children who are in need,'' was his response to the critics.

"I have never had any apology to make,'' said Rev. Nisbett. The reverend who was also a key player in Bermuda's anti-apartheid movement drew some parallels with South Africa's historical journey.

"We were very happy when South Africa became free,'' he said. "Then Bermuda became free.'' Rev. Goodwin Smith of the New Testament Church of God who was off the Island, was represented by Deborah Trimm.

She said it was important to salute the Island's leaders. "Sometimes we are ignorant of the type of labour we have thrust upon them,'' she said.