The family of a young boy who was murdered in an IRA bombing is today marking what would have been his 40th birthday.
Colin and Wendy Parry set up the Peace Foundation in memory of their son Tim who died in the Warrington Bombing in 1993.
Tim was just 12 years old when the bombs erupted on Bridge Street in Warrington and, on The Hard Shoulder with Kieran Cuddihy this evening, his father Tim looked back on his short life.
He said he can still remember “literally everything” about the day he died.
“It is seared into my memory from when Tim got up that morning,” he said.
“He had saved a penalty with his school team a few weeks before and he was convinced therefore he was gong to be Neville Southall, who your older listeners will remember.
“He was off into town to get a pair of Everton goalkeeping shorts – little did he know that £11 wouldn’t have bought them anyway, that is the sad irony and that was all he had.
“He went in with two friends. They were on Bridge Street and the first bomb went off which didn’t do any damage to anybody it just blew in a few windows but of course people in the vicinity ran and tragically ran in the wrong direction, which Tim obviously did too.
“Unwittingly, he was right beside the second waste bin when the second bomb detonated and the results proved to be fatal.”
Today is the 40th birthday of my 12 yr old son Tim. It is bittersweet to think Tim would have his own family and live nearby as Dom and Abbi do. It was never to be, but his life counts for so much thro @peacefoundation. Tim is eternal and everywhere xx pic.twitter.com/c22r10Nh1P
— Colin Parry OBE (@ColinParryPeace) September 1, 2020
Mr Parry said he travelled to the hospital with his wife when they couldn’t find their son and was eventually asked to wait in a side room.
“About two minutes later, a surgeon came in with his green coveralls on and he had a manilla envelope and he said, ‘do you recognise these articles? Out came Tim’s watch and his St Christopher chain.
“We said, ‘yes, those are our son’s’ and he said, ‘well I’ve got some very bad news for you, your son has been injured in the bombing and his injuries are so serious, I don’t think he will survive the night.’
The President Michael D Higgins meets Colin and Wendy Parry on a visit to Warrington, 22-07-2015. Image: Áras an UachtaráinTim was moved to a hospital in Liverpool where doctors discovered that there was no longer any indication of any brain activity.
“They said, ‘the machine is breathing for him but I am afraid he has no hope, no chance, so you really must let him go.’
“So, I stayed with Tim when he died. Wendy was afraid to for reasons I won’t go into to, it was a bit graphic, but I stayed with Tim and when the technician switched off the machine, he died in my arms.”
Today would have been Tim's 40th birthday. Its so hard to think that 27 years have passed since he was taken from us. His life was so short but his memory and charity has changed the lives of so many. Always in our hearts x @peacefoundation @ColinParryPeace pic.twitter.com/Jbult5bnUW
— Wendy Parry (@WendyParry4P) September 1, 2020
The Parry’s set up the Peace Foundation in Tim’s memory and have been campaigning for peace and non-violent conflict resolution ever since.
Colin said they got the idea while spending time in Ireland after the bombing.
“We met many people engaged in peace building,” he said. “Even though many people thought it was a hopeless, intractable problem, there were many making a lot of effort.
“We took inspiration from a particular group which we then brought back home and we set about doing a youth exchange programme with kids from Belfast, Dublin and Warrington.”
You can find out more about the Peace Foundation’s work here and listen back to the full interview here:
