SHATTERED TOWN FACES FUTURE
Shattered town faces the future
By Janet Devlin
OMAGH started burying the dead today - and picking up the pieces of everyday life.
No one felt much like it with so many dead to be buried, but after a weekend of tears and a day of dawning despair there was nothing else for it.
"Sure, life goes on," said one man. "The dead must be mourned, but it's the living that pick up the pieces."
Community leaders were desperately trying to hold together the town's gaping wounds, while friends and neighbours opened their arms to the bereaved.
The overwhelming deeply-felt sympathy of the whole island is a comfort.
Mo Mowlam visited the town last night with words of support, but where, people asked, is Tony Blair - back at his holiday home?
And surely a member of the Royal family will come?
"Isn't the Queen's regiment the Lancashire's, stationed in town?," said one woman.
"Of course, she'll come - or at the very least Charles."
Keeping busy, even with idle speculation, in the face of gnawing grief, has always been the Ulster way.
And the community is pulling together with all of its might, visiting and tea-making and arranging.
Anything, but anything, rather than think of all those coffins still to walk behind and all those tears still to shed all over again.
For numbness has given way to a raw aching pain - and the first glimpse of anger.
"The ones that did this are just evil b-------s", said a labourer. His workmate agreed: "They are not even animals".
"People talk about the dead, but what about the injured?" said a St John's Ambulance volunteer.
"We picked up a man, then picked up his arm.
"God forgive me, but some of those poor people, still in hospital, might feel they would be better off dead."
Books of Condolence opened at public venues throughout the town to offer people a tangible way to express their feelings.
Scores of messages have already been inscribed: 'God Bless', 'May God Forgive Them', 'We'll Never Forget You'.
The few posies left within hours at the blast scene have been joined by a welter of floral tributes from all round the province.
Money is already pouring into the fund set up at the First Trust Bank in High Street, but the blast took the heart - literally and metaphorically - out of the whole community. And no one can even begin to put it back again.
Roy Kells can only gaze at the burnt out remains of his outfitters shop through a pair of binoculars.
"It looks a right mess", he said. "But what does that matter compared to what happened? People went to our shop because they felt safe and I can't even think what it would be like to go back."
The stolen car containing the explosives went off outside S D Kells in Market "Street - and took the lives of nine customers with it.
Miraculously, all ten staff survived relatively unscathed.
Mary Grimes had just bought herself a pair of slacks and a cardigan.
She was enjoying spending the day with daughter Avril, pregnant with twins, and 18-month-old granddaughter Maura, both of whom were buried today.
Philomena Skelton, a mother of four, happily married for 20 years, had just asked shop assistant Sharon Robinson for a pair of school shoes for her youngest daughter.
Sharon bent below the counter to get the right size - and when she looked up again they were all dead. Everyone she had just served.
Another assistant was helping 21-year-old Aidan Gallagher choose something to wear on a night out. Within seconds he was lying lifeless in the gent's section, all his nights out over. His body was to be brought home tonight.
The staff are so traumatised by that hellish vision of broken bodies that they are wondering if they will ever, ever get over it.
Practical help for the whole community is being offered at 10 High Street - a one-stop spot for a whole range of emergency services.
"It is the sort of thing you plan for - then hope and pray you will never need" said council co-ordinator Kevin O'Gara.
"People in the town are suffering enough without wondering where to go to for help and advice.
"Here we offer a whole range of expert help, but obviously we are immediately most concerned about the huge personal and emotional trauma people are suffering.
"We have dozens through the door already and we will stay here for as long as it takes."
By Janet Devlin
OMAGH started burying the dead today - and picking up the pieces of everyday life.
No one felt much like it with so many dead to be buried, but after a weekend of tears and a day of dawning despair there was nothing else for it.
"Sure, life goes on," said one man. "The dead must be mourned, but it's the living that pick up the pieces."
Community leaders were desperately trying to hold together the town's gaping wounds, while friends and neighbours opened their arms to the bereaved.
The overwhelming deeply-felt sympathy of the whole island is a comfort.
Mo Mowlam visited the town last night with words of support, but where, people asked, is Tony Blair - back at his holiday home?
And surely a member of the Royal family will come?
"Isn't the Queen's regiment the Lancashire's, stationed in town?," said one woman.
"Of course, she'll come - or at the very least Charles."
Keeping busy, even with idle speculation, in the face of gnawing grief, has always been the Ulster way.
And the community is pulling together with all of its might, visiting and tea-making and arranging.
Anything, but anything, rather than think of all those coffins still to walk behind and all those tears still to shed all over again.
For numbness has given way to a raw aching pain - and the first glimpse of anger.
"The ones that did this are just evil b-------s", said a labourer. His workmate agreed: "They are not even animals".
"People talk about the dead, but what about the injured?" said a St John's Ambulance volunteer.
"We picked up a man, then picked up his arm.
"God forgive me, but some of those poor people, still in hospital, might feel they would be better off dead."
Books of Condolence opened at public venues throughout the town to offer people a tangible way to express their feelings.
Scores of messages have already been inscribed: 'God Bless', 'May God Forgive Them', 'We'll Never Forget You'.
The few posies left within hours at the blast scene have been joined by a welter of floral tributes from all round the province.
Money is already pouring into the fund set up at the First Trust Bank in High Street, but the blast took the heart - literally and metaphorically - out of the whole community. And no one can even begin to put it back again.
Roy Kells can only gaze at the burnt out remains of his outfitters shop through a pair of binoculars.
"It looks a right mess", he said. "But what does that matter compared to what happened? People went to our shop because they felt safe and I can't even think what it would be like to go back."
The stolen car containing the explosives went off outside S D Kells in Market "Street - and took the lives of nine customers with it.
Miraculously, all ten staff survived relatively unscathed.
Mary Grimes had just bought herself a pair of slacks and a cardigan.
She was enjoying spending the day with daughter Avril, pregnant with twins, and 18-month-old granddaughter Maura, both of whom were buried today.
Philomena Skelton, a mother of four, happily married for 20 years, had just asked shop assistant Sharon Robinson for a pair of school shoes for her youngest daughter.
Sharon bent below the counter to get the right size - and when she looked up again they were all dead. Everyone she had just served.
Another assistant was helping 21-year-old Aidan Gallagher choose something to wear on a night out. Within seconds he was lying lifeless in the gent's section, all his nights out over. His body was to be brought home tonight.
The staff are so traumatised by that hellish vision of broken bodies that they are wondering if they will ever, ever get over it.
Practical help for the whole community is being offered at 10 High Street - a one-stop spot for a whole range of emergency services.
"It is the sort of thing you plan for - then hope and pray you will never need" said council co-ordinator Kevin O'Gara.
"People in the town are suffering enough without wondering where to go to for help and advice.
"Here we offer a whole range of expert help, but obviously we are immediately most concerned about the huge personal and emotional trauma people are suffering.
"We have dozens through the door already and we will stay here for as long as it takes."
Further Information
Publisher: BELFAST TELEGRAPH
Ref: BT/0050
Published Date: 18-Aug-98
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