Warrington bombing: Colin Parry appeals for help to save Peace Centre built after IRA bomb killed his son Tim Parry and Johnathan Ball

In 1993 the IRA exploded two-no-warning bombs in Warrington, killing three-year-old Johnathan Ball and 12-year-old Tim Parry. Tim’s parents, Colin and Wendy Parry, went on to spearhead the building of a Peace Centre in the town as a memorial to the boys and to support the NI peace process.

Now Colin is appealing for benefactors to bail the centre out financially. As well as engaging in reconciliation work, the centre also raised funds through renting out space to charities, businesses and community groups.

“But the Covid impact was so high, many businesses, not just our own, suffered,” said Colin, who leads the project. “We never fully recovered from the fact that almost nothing happened at the peace centre for the best part of two years. And although things have been picking up in recent months it has not gone back to pre covid levels. So the use of the building has been very much reduced and of course the building is getting older, it has high maintenance and service costs.”

Agreement for the local council to buy the centre has almost been finalised. Colin and his team would continue to rent some office space in the centre to work from. But until that goes through they still have significant costs to cover.

“£100,000 would give us several more months of breathing space while we get the sale over the line,” he said. He asked any potential benefactors who could help out to get in touch.

The main work of the centre is supporting victims of terrorism, both Troubles related and in relation to more recent attacks in GB. The team also do preventative work by invitation in schools and communities to address tensions over differences in politics, faith, race and ethnicity.

Mr Parry famously made headlines when he engaged in public meetings with Martin McGuinness. While he is firm that he has never forgiven the IRA for killing his son, he said he respected Martin McGuinness for his contribution to peace.

“We could speak to each other in a very civilly and friendly way. I faced much criticism for doing that but  my view was you have to make peace with your enemies not your friends. Martin went on a very challenging journey from where he used to be to Deputy First Minister and he deserved credit for that.” He noted that there were threats to his life from dissident republicans as a result.

However he feels that recent public utterances from his successor as Stormont leader for Sinn Fein, Michelle O’Neill, have been a retrograde step for peace. She made headlines recently when she insisted there had been “no alternative” to the IRA campign of terror.

“I read that and I fundamentally disagree with that,” he said. “No matter how deep rooted a conflict is there is always the facility to speak to people - Yes, people you don’t like, people you don’t find agreeable, people whose politics or views are offensive to you. But there is never ever any reason why you can’t attempt to manage those conflicts non violently.

“So to say there was no alternative is in my view completely false and wrong.”

He does not believe that Martin McGuinness had ever said anything so provocative.

“I have seen opinion polls where many people supported what she said and again I just think it is such a shame all these years on from 1998 that people can’t realise that armed struggle isn’t the answer. One way or another you have to sit down together and you don’t make provocative remarks when you are sitting down with people. You try your level best to use moderate language and make measured statements if you are intent on making peace. It is not consistent with making peace to be inflaming things, is it?”

He added: “I think the problem is that what she says will have some impact and will have some influence. And in some people it may be seen as the green light for doing things that we have long since stopped doing.”

Thursday would have been Tim’s birthday.His mother tweeted: “Today is Tim’s 42nd birthday. In 7 months time on the 20th March 23, it will be 30 years since we last saw Tim’s happy smiling face. I wonder if the people who planted the bomb ever think about what they did to us as a family?”