Peace mission to Omagh

A PARTY from Warrington’s Tim Parry Johnathan Ball Foundation for Peace travel to Omagh, in Northern Ireland tomorrow (Sunday) to take part in a ceremony to honour and remember the victims of the 1998 Omagh bombing atrocity.
They will join members of the Omagh Support and Self Help Group at a memorial to be held in the Garden of Light at 3pm.
The Omagh bombing was a car bomb attack carried out by the Real Irish Republican Army (RIRA), a splinter group of the former Provisional Irish Republican Army opposed to the Good Friday Agreement.
Twenty nine people died in the atrocity and about 220 were injured. It was described at the time as Northern Ireland’s worst single terrorist atrocity.
Travelling with the party will be Harriet Vickers, aged 20, who was 13 days old when she was caught in the Warrington bombing 20 years ago. Her mother was seriously injured and later died.
Harriet will be reading some of the poems that were sent from all over the world immediately after the bombing.
The Warrington party will also take part in the “Stars of Hope” project, a unique disaster relief/community art project that empowers communities devastated by natural disasters like tornadoes, wildfires, hurricanes and floods as well as man-made disaster such as mass shootings, bombings and industrial accidents, to paint hopeful messages, inspirational words and colourful designs on wooden stars as part of their personal, and their community’s collective healing process.
The hand-painted stars are then planted on street corners and attached to poles and fences throughout grieving communities.
After being displayed in the Omagh bomb garden tomorrow, many of them will be transported to New York for distribution across the world.
Jo Dover, who leads the Foundation’s work with victims of terrorism said: “Our visit to Omagh demonstrates the shared experience with Warrington and helps us stand with them on their anniversary as they did with us this year, on our 20th anniversary.”