GREY SKIES REFLECT A SOMBER MOOD
Grey skies reflect a sombre mood
By Claire Simpson
MOYA BOWES will never forget the day a bomb ripped through her home town, killing 29 people, and injuring 220 more.
"I was driving back from Donegal when I heard about the bomb on my car radio," she said.
"I just caught the word fatalities and I turned up the volume.
"I couldn't believe it.
"If we had not decided to go away to Donegal, we would have been in the town centre that day.
"Everyone has a tale to tell where they were, and what they were doing when it happened."
Mrs Bowes said she felt a strange atmosphere in the town yesterday before the memorial service.
"It was really eerie," she said.
"When we were walking up past Supervalu I thought this is a terrible atmosphere.
"It brought it all back to me.
"It was so quiet - like one of those days during the Troubles when you were just waiting for something to happen."
Ms Bowes was one of hundreds of people who walked through the rain sodden streets of Omagh yesterday afternoon to pay their respects to those who died in the worst single paramilitary attack of the Troubles.
The centre of the usually bustling town was strangely quiet yesterday.
Many shops closed as a mark of respect while workers stood to watch the unveiling of a memorial - a crystal heart embedded in a glass obelisk - at the site of the bomb on Market Street.
Mothers, fathers, grandparents, teenagers and children stood patiently in torrential rain during the memorial service.
Thirty one mirrors at a memorial garden of light on Drumragh Avenue, which represent those killed, reflected a grey sky as the Omagh Waterford peace choir opened the memorial service.
Some of the crowd wept as names of those killed, including a mother and her unborn twin girls, were slowly read out.
Eileen O'Connell made the seven-hour journey from Co Cork along with 31 others to pay their respects.
Speaking after the service she said: "Avril Monaghan's mother [Mary Grimes] was a Newmarket girl -which is just next door to Charleville [in Co Cork]."
"The service was very beautiful but very sad.
"I did see some people crying. You realise when you are here what it really means to people. It just hits you what happened."
Mrs Grimes died along with her daughter Avril, Avril's unborn twins, and daughter Maura.
Ann Mallon from Omagh was in the town when the bomb exploded.
"I can't believe it was 10 years ago,", she said.
"I thought it was a beautiful service, I'll always remember that day. I'd gone into town.
"It's miserable today but that was one of the nicest days that summer."
Michael Downes was one of a group from Co Limerick who also came to honour the dead.
"I came up from Limerick this morning to pay my respects," he said.
"We are just a group of ordinary people and we felt we had to come.
"You see things on TV but it's only when you are here that it really hits you. The service was very moving."
By Claire Simpson
MOYA BOWES will never forget the day a bomb ripped through her home town, killing 29 people, and injuring 220 more.
"I was driving back from Donegal when I heard about the bomb on my car radio," she said.
"I just caught the word fatalities and I turned up the volume.
"I couldn't believe it.
"If we had not decided to go away to Donegal, we would have been in the town centre that day.
"Everyone has a tale to tell where they were, and what they were doing when it happened."
Mrs Bowes said she felt a strange atmosphere in the town yesterday before the memorial service.
"It was really eerie," she said.
"When we were walking up past Supervalu I thought this is a terrible atmosphere.
"It brought it all back to me.
"It was so quiet - like one of those days during the Troubles when you were just waiting for something to happen."
Ms Bowes was one of hundreds of people who walked through the rain sodden streets of Omagh yesterday afternoon to pay their respects to those who died in the worst single paramilitary attack of the Troubles.
The centre of the usually bustling town was strangely quiet yesterday.
Many shops closed as a mark of respect while workers stood to watch the unveiling of a memorial - a crystal heart embedded in a glass obelisk - at the site of the bomb on Market Street.
Mothers, fathers, grandparents, teenagers and children stood patiently in torrential rain during the memorial service.
Thirty one mirrors at a memorial garden of light on Drumragh Avenue, which represent those killed, reflected a grey sky as the Omagh Waterford peace choir opened the memorial service.
Some of the crowd wept as names of those killed, including a mother and her unborn twin girls, were slowly read out.
Eileen O'Connell made the seven-hour journey from Co Cork along with 31 others to pay their respects.
Speaking after the service she said: "Avril Monaghan's mother [Mary Grimes] was a Newmarket girl -which is just next door to Charleville [in Co Cork]."
"The service was very beautiful but very sad.
"I did see some people crying. You realise when you are here what it really means to people. It just hits you what happened."
Mrs Grimes died along with her daughter Avril, Avril's unborn twins, and daughter Maura.
Ann Mallon from Omagh was in the town when the bomb exploded.
"I can't believe it was 10 years ago,", she said.
"I thought it was a beautiful service, I'll always remember that day. I'd gone into town.
"It's miserable today but that was one of the nicest days that summer."
Michael Downes was one of a group from Co Limerick who also came to honour the dead.
"I came up from Limerick this morning to pay my respects," he said.
"We are just a group of ordinary people and we felt we had to come.
"You see things on TV but it's only when you are here that it really hits you. The service was very moving."
Further Information
Publisher: THE IRISH NEWS
Ref: IN10An/23
Published Date: 16-Aug-08
Related Images
There have been no images archived for this article.