Peace

The AGM of the Charitable Trust I am a trustee of, held at the Peace Centre this morning.

Inevitably, it is impossible to not be reminded of the events of March 1993 which led to the creation of the Peace Centre, when two young boys were killed by an IRA bomb detonated in a waste basket on a main street in Warrington town centre. Tim Parry was there to buy a Mother’s Day card for his Mum and some Everton kit.

I’ve just re-read an interview with Colin and Wendy Parry, Tim’s parents. They never wanted to know the names of the individuals who killed their son, what they looked like, or whether they have children themselves. They just wanted Peace. And following their sons murder they threw themselves wholeheartedly into seeking that in Northern Ireland, with Colin Parry in particular playing his part in helping the whole process that led eventually to the terrorist groups laying down their arms.

But I imagine none of this was easy for the Parry’s and their two surviving children. Tim would have been 42 now, and as his mother says in the interview they think about him every day, and every time one of his friends gets married or has children it is painful.

Peace looks easy. I don’t think it is. The courage to achieve it takes some really special people.