NIGHT OF CELEBRATION
Night of celebration
Report: JEANETTE OLDHAM
Town of hope inspired by courage of bomb girl
HER'S was just another happy face in the crowd, but her smiles meant so much more than most.
Claire Gallagher was blinded in the bombing, but last night proved she has left the scars of August 15 behind her.
Surrounded by friends and her boyfriend, who hugged her close to him, she looked every bit the buoyant carefree teenager.
Fronting the thousand-strong crowd, and with her hands held high in the air, she sang along to I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day.
Her courage summed up the spirit of everyone there, and was quite simply the biggest show of defiance to the bombers who maimed her. Beaming a broad smile she said: "I'm very glad to be here and am amazed that so many people came, it's just great."
Asked how she was doing she said: "Great. I'm doing just great."
Thousands turned out to revel in the festive entertainment in front of the courthouse, a particularly poignant place as this was where the Real IRA said they had planted the bomb.
And last night the bomb site itself, which had been closed for reconstruction work, was reopened for pedestrian access.
Omagh man Ciaran McKinney, who was not in Omagh on the day of the blast but knew some of the injured, said: "I walked through there tonight to get here. It was all in darkness and I must admit I felt very sad.
"I think some of the victims' relatives went there tonight to have a look round."
Local DJ Pio McCann, whose daughter Dianne was injured in the explosion, set the tone for the evening by saying: "It's time for us to move on."
But it was singer Daniel O'Donnell who won the hearts and minds of everyone when he said the people of Omagh, out of all the people in the world, deserve some happiness this Christmas.
"There is nothing I can say to make anything better or to take away the pain of what happened here," he said.
But he moved the crowd to rapturous applause when he said all the town had to do was reach out, and the whole of Ireland would be there for it.
"If you need someone to talk to, then we want to listen. If you need someone to listen, then the whole of Ireland wants to listen."
He said he knew it was a very difficult night for many, but said: "This is your night to have a little happiness. Please take it in anyway you want."
He said the significance of his first song, Moving On To Greener Pastures, would be obvious to everyone .
But it was his words, "It's time to go forward, not to look back on the bad things," which were doubly poignant because of the bomb site behind.
Thousands streamed into the Main Street as the town faced up to the first Christmas celebrations without lost loved ones.
At first glance early on it looked like any other year. A few hundred turned out to brave the cold and switch on their Christmas lights.
But before long the site in the main street was extraordinary; they came in ones and twos at first, whole families, three generations, and before long the street was packed with upwards of 10,000 people.
One onlooker said: "I've never seen anything like it, so many people here in Omagh. Normally for something like this you would just get a couple of hundred people.
"But this turnout tells you how much people want to get on with life in as normal a way as possible."
Omagh District Council's chief executive, John McKinney, who helped get the town back on its feet after the bombing, said: "I'm so how so many people are here, and the mood is so happy.
"People are looking forward to the future, they want to celebrate Christmas this year more than ever."
But it was the symbolism of the evening which screamed to be noticed above everything else - the sight of young people from Roman Catholic and Protestant schools holding hands, sitting side by side and singing together in a cross-community choir which sang a song called Across the Bridge of Hope, written by 12-year-old bomb victim Shaun McLaughlin.
And equally uplifting was the crowd's positive reaction to Daniel O'Donnell's rousing plea for peace and a new future for Ulster and Ireland.
Their constant clapping and whoops of delight proved the town is well and truly on the road to recovery.
Report: JEANETTE OLDHAM
Town of hope inspired by courage of bomb girl
HER'S was just another happy face in the crowd, but her smiles meant so much more than most.
Claire Gallagher was blinded in the bombing, but last night proved she has left the scars of August 15 behind her.
Surrounded by friends and her boyfriend, who hugged her close to him, she looked every bit the buoyant carefree teenager.
Fronting the thousand-strong crowd, and with her hands held high in the air, she sang along to I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day.
Her courage summed up the spirit of everyone there, and was quite simply the biggest show of defiance to the bombers who maimed her. Beaming a broad smile she said: "I'm very glad to be here and am amazed that so many people came, it's just great."
Asked how she was doing she said: "Great. I'm doing just great."
Thousands turned out to revel in the festive entertainment in front of the courthouse, a particularly poignant place as this was where the Real IRA said they had planted the bomb.
And last night the bomb site itself, which had been closed for reconstruction work, was reopened for pedestrian access.
Omagh man Ciaran McKinney, who was not in Omagh on the day of the blast but knew some of the injured, said: "I walked through there tonight to get here. It was all in darkness and I must admit I felt very sad.
"I think some of the victims' relatives went there tonight to have a look round."
Local DJ Pio McCann, whose daughter Dianne was injured in the explosion, set the tone for the evening by saying: "It's time for us to move on."
But it was singer Daniel O'Donnell who won the hearts and minds of everyone when he said the people of Omagh, out of all the people in the world, deserve some happiness this Christmas.
"There is nothing I can say to make anything better or to take away the pain of what happened here," he said.
But he moved the crowd to rapturous applause when he said all the town had to do was reach out, and the whole of Ireland would be there for it.
"If you need someone to talk to, then we want to listen. If you need someone to listen, then the whole of Ireland wants to listen."
He said he knew it was a very difficult night for many, but said: "This is your night to have a little happiness. Please take it in anyway you want."
He said the significance of his first song, Moving On To Greener Pastures, would be obvious to everyone .
But it was his words, "It's time to go forward, not to look back on the bad things," which were doubly poignant because of the bomb site behind.
Thousands streamed into the Main Street as the town faced up to the first Christmas celebrations without lost loved ones.
At first glance early on it looked like any other year. A few hundred turned out to brave the cold and switch on their Christmas lights.
But before long the site in the main street was extraordinary; they came in ones and twos at first, whole families, three generations, and before long the street was packed with upwards of 10,000 people.
One onlooker said: "I've never seen anything like it, so many people here in Omagh. Normally for something like this you would just get a couple of hundred people.
"But this turnout tells you how much people want to get on with life in as normal a way as possible."
Omagh District Council's chief executive, John McKinney, who helped get the town back on its feet after the bombing, said: "I'm so how so many people are here, and the mood is so happy.
"People are looking forward to the future, they want to celebrate Christmas this year more than ever."
But it was the symbolism of the evening which screamed to be noticed above everything else - the sight of young people from Roman Catholic and Protestant schools holding hands, sitting side by side and singing together in a cross-community choir which sang a song called Across the Bridge of Hope, written by 12-year-old bomb victim Shaun McLaughlin.
And equally uplifting was the crowd's positive reaction to Daniel O'Donnell's rousing plea for peace and a new future for Ulster and Ireland.
Their constant clapping and whoops of delight proved the town is well and truly on the road to recovery.
Further Information
Publisher: NEWS LETTER
Ref: NL/133
Published Date: 27-Nov-98
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