Hope and tears as Buncrana remembers 18.08.08

TRAVELLING hand-in-hand across the bridge of hope. The words from a poem written by 12-year old Shaun McLaughlin before he died in the Omagh bomb took on a special resonance on Friday evening as a large crowd gathered in Buncrana to remember the atrocity 10 years on. The open-air mass was held at Knockalla Drive, the small housing estate where Shaun lived just doors away from his friend Oran Doherty, 8 and where a stone-clad memorial erected not long after the bombing, reminds visitors how the seaside town across the border, was also shattered by the Real IRA massacre on August 15, 1998.
The relentless rain did nothing to hamper the turn-out as young children stood hand-in-hand with parents and grandparents under a sea of multi-coloured umbrellas to remember Shaun, Oran and James Barker, 12. Also remembered were Fernando Blasco Baselga, 12, from Madrid, who was a student on an exchange programme to
Buncrana and Rocio Abad Ramos, 24 who was one of the exchange group leaders. The poignant candle-lit service attended by several hundred people, was concelebrated by local curate Fr Eddie McGuinness and Church of Ireland rector, Canon Sam Barton. It was made even more special by local singers who sang carefully chosen songs including REM's 'Hold On' and Cara Dillon's 'There were Roses', a heartbreaking ballad about two young men who were loyal friends despite being from opposite sides of the religious and political divide. An "overawed" Fr McGuinness told the gathering their solidarity with the bereaved families a decade on, was in stark contrast to "the savagery of Omagh". "A clear message must ring out to those who still think that violence works, a very clear message from our hearts, from Omagh, from all of us, that enough is enough. As a people we have suffered for many, many years, on all sides through religious differences and political differences but at the end of the day, the people who suffer the most are the poor, the children and the innocent," he said.

Bernadette Doherty and Patricia McLaughlin, the mothers of Oran and Shaun, were among the offertory gift bearers. As light faded under a heavy grey sky, they carried photos of their beloved children to the altar sheltered under a mini-marquee. Danielle McDaid offered up Shaun’s wrist-watch while Caoimhe Doherty carried the brandy balls and honeycomb sweets bought by Oran in Omagh that fateful day. Young Spanish exchange students visiting the town - a tradition that has continued in defiance of the terrorist bombing - huddled in small groups to pay their respects.

Paola Helguero who was a Spanish exchange group leader at the time of the bombing, offered a prayer for all 29 victims of the single worst attack in 30 years of the Troubles. Youth leader P.J Hallinan read out the beautiful poem 'Our Brief Rainbow' while another bidding prayer was an emotional rendering of Shaun's poem, 'The Bridge'. The Bridge, by Shaun McLaughlin Orange and Green - it doesn't matter. United now, don't shatter our dream. Scatter the seeds of peace over our land, so we can travel hand-in-hand across the bridge of hope

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