Peace campaigner Colin Parry at Shimna lecture

Peace campaigner Colin Parry at Shimna lecture

9 October 2024

HIGHLY respected peace campaigner Colin Parry delivered this year’s annual Gordon Wilson lecture at Shimna Integrated College.

The special event is dedicated to Mr Wilson who on August 5, 1994, was the guest of honour at a ceremony to mark the opening of the Newcastle school at its current Lawnfield site in the resort.

Like Gordon Wilson — who lost his daughter in the Omagh bomb atrocity — the lives of the Parry family were also transformed by an unimaginable tragedy.  

On March 20, 1993, their 12 year-old son Tim and three-year-old Johnathan Ball were killed and 54 others hurt when two terrorist bombs exploded in their home town of Warrington.

In the midst of their grief, Colin Parry said he and his wife Wendy decided to reject anger and instead focus on “turning something bad into something good.” 

Over the following years, they worked tirelessly to create a charity called the Tim Parry and Johnathan Ball Peace Foundation and the building of a Peace Centre in Warrington. 

The Foundation has focused on young people, running exchanges and providing leadership development opportunities. 

It has worked alongside other NGOs and charities to promote peace and to support those at risk from violence and extremism. 

Looking back, Colin said it was this peace work that was “the glue which has kept our family together”.

He shared his experiences of meeting leading politicians as part of the peace process, in the UK, Ireland and United States. 

Like Gordon Wilson’s efforts, the Warrington project played its part in helping to bring peace.

“The pebble in the water that was Tim and Jonathan caused a tsunami that, in the end, led to a whole new approach,” said Colin.

He and Wendy’s work has been widely recognised, including a global award for peace, also given to Nelson Mandela, Pope John Paul II and former US President Jimmy Carter.

In his moving address, Colin reflected on his family’s extraordinary journey over the past 30 years and the life his son Tim might have had.

His final message underlined the importance of mutual respect in society and of young people from different communities being educated together.

In attendance on the night was Gordon Wilson’s daughter Julie-Ann and her husband John, as well as representatives from different churches in the town.