Relatives of the victims of the Tontine Street air raid will return to Folkestone exactly 100 years after their ancestors were killed.

A memorial service to mark the centenary of the Folkestone Air Raid on May 25, 1917, will take place at the exact time the town was targeted by German bombers in the First World War.

It will be held at Folkestone Methodist Church in Sandgate Road at 5pm before a plaque listing the names of all the victims of the raid is unveiled in the Garden of Remembrance.

One relative, whose family was at the centre of the tragedy, has been working hard over the past three years to make sure the victims are properly remembered on the 100th anniversary.

Margaret Care, with the help of her friend and historian Martin Easdown, has organised a memorial service on the day.

Her great grandfather, Frederick Stokes, was injured in the blast when a bomb fell outside the Stokes greengrocers shop at 6.22pm.

He ran the shop with his brother William who, along with his 14-year-old son, Arthur, was killed instantly.

Miss Care, who was born in Folkestone and has lived in the town all her life, said: “My family spoke about it a lot. I grew up with the stories and particularly about little Arthur.

“It’s something we’ve always remembered on May 25 and one day in 2014 I stood here and thought I shouldn’t be here on my own in 2017 so I phoned Martin and here we are.

“It’s finally saying the right goodbye to them. We’ve got all these descendants coming in.

“I’m convinced if one of the victims walked we could recognise them but we’re not going to recognise these descendants we’ve known from email so they’re going to have to let themselves known.”

The service at 5pm will last about 45 minutes and at 6.22pm – the exact time the bomb fell in Tontine Street – the new memorial will be revealed in the Garden of Remembrance.

Mr Easdown said: “We know [that’s the time] because there used to be a church at the top of the road [Tontine Street] where the clock stopped at 6.22pm.

“The church will be open from 2pm and there will be a photographic display about the raid.”

The raid came as a complete surprise at the time. Although people could hear the aircraft, it was assumed at the time it was gun practice and training going on at Shorncliffe Camp.

By the end of the day 97 people were killed – 61 at Tontine Street, 18 soldiers at Shorncliffe Camp and 18 more civilians elsewhere in Folkestone, Cheriton, Hythe and Ashford.

In Tontine Street, 61 people were killed on May 25, 1917.

Frederick Stokes died the following October from the injuries he suffered that day. The 63rd and final casualty of the raid, Lily Bowbrick, who was severely injured in the raid and later became a bit of a local celebrity, eventually succumbed to her injuries in 1925.

It was the first raid by aeroplanes on Britain. Earlier in the war, Zeppelins had been used by the Germans to target Britain but by 1916 they were beginning to be regularly shot down.

The target was originally meant to be London but bad weather prevented it and they turned back to France via Kent following the South Eastern and Chatham Railway line through Tonbridge and Ashford.

The first person killed in the raid was 18-year-old Gladys Sparks in Ashford.

Along with William Stokes and his son, two girls who worked at the shop were also killed while a third member of staff was injured.

A feature article in the Folkestone & Hythe Express on Wednesday, May 24, will commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Tontine Street Air Raid with pictures, the history of the raid, contemporary accounts and more from Margaret Care and Martin Easdown on the research to track down relatives.