NO CHRISTMAS LAUGHTER
No Christmas laughter, no festive lights, no decorations, this is what the bombers did to Omagh
Special Report Donna Carton
THE TOWN WERE JOY IS A FORGOTTEN WORD
GRIEF-stricken Omagh is the town that Christmas has forgotten.
The commercial razzmatazz of the festive season has bypassed the close-knit Co Tyrone community where December 25 will be a silent and very sad night indeed.
The bomb-damaged buildings have been torn down but traces of that terrible day in August are everywhere - not physical traces you can touch; rather, they are empty spaces.
The town centre has lost its heart, its buzz and, saddest of all, its young people.
There is trade again in Omagh, but it is not business as usual. The Real IRA blast last August 15 which killed 29 people and injured hundreds blew the soul out of a thriving market town.
More than three months on, the people are still struggling to erase horrific memories of the carnage.
On Saturday people were out shopping and walking about, but the streets were far from packed and had none of the pre-Christmas cheer already building up in other towns and cities.
There are no decorations, no festive lights and the shops haven't bothered to run their annual Christmas clubs.
Walking from shop to shop you get the niggling feeling that something else is missing. Then it dawns - the teenagers have gone, for their parents, but the big, noisy, laughing groups of young people who used to hang about, spending their day buying CDs and drinking coffee are absent.
As with many others, fear and the terrible memories have sent them elsewhere or kept them at home.
Rita Halloway and her sister Elaine, out shopping for "a few bits and pieces", described how their town had changed.
Rita said: "It's a bit easier for us to come here because we weren't there the day of the bomb.
"It must be really difficult for those who were caught up in it to return to the scene of the horror.
"It's noticeable, though, that most of them don't. It's a quieter town centre we have now.
"At first it was hard to get traders to re-open their stores, now it's hard getting people to come here again."
Elaine said: "Just think of the families and friends of the 29 people who were killed - they don't want to come here to be reminded.
"And the hundreds, who were injured - apart from their injuries, think of what they witnessed that day, the things they saw or heard.
"It's so difficult for those people, already haunted by memories, to come back here to shop again.
"It's a slow, slow recovery process that Omagh is going through."
But the recently-launched "Give A Day To Omagh" campaign is beginning to take hold.
DERRY woman Irene Doherty and her children travelled to Omagh on Saturday to do some shopping and show a little support.
She said: "I just thought I'd do my bit to show Omagh that people from elsewhere think about them and what they've gone through.
"I have a better choice of shops in Derry but I decided to come here to shop today to help Omagh traders get back on their feet and show we care.
"If other people did it for just one day in the run-up to Christmas I'm sure it would help the town."
The Doherty family are not unique. People have been arriving from all over Northern Ireland and the Republic.
In Michael Gaine's restaurant a bunch of flowers sits on the front desk. The message on the card is one of support from "shoppers from Belfast".
Mr Gaine, chairman of the town's Chamber of Commerce, said: "A group of people came in, explained they were from Belfast and had come to show support and they left the flowers.
"It was a lovely gesture. Think of the many atrocities and bombs Belfast has endured over the years, but people don't stop to do something for the city.
"Yet these people took time out to come here for us."
The "Give A Day To Omagh" idea seems to be catching on, and clubs and groups from all over Ireland have contacted the Chamber to say they'll be bringing a busload of people to the town on a Saturday between now and Christmas.
The Chamber believes it is just the boost the town needs, not simply financially but emotionally.
The trappings of Christmas are not entirely absent from the town.
Clothing stores such as Dorothy Perkins has the usual December stock of party wear and evening dresses: Boots carries its usual range of festive gifts and cards; and Toy Master on Bridge Street is packed with enough of the latest games and gadgets to delight a whole school of children.
But the centre of Omagh does not have the glitzy, festive feel enjoyed by other places, and there is no buzz of anticipation and no too-early carol playing or over-the-top tinsel displays.
Traders are feeling the pinch in what is normally a boom time, but none will complain publicly.
Mr Gaine said: "Perhaps privately they will look at what they've lost but their main priorities are greater than money.
"Many traders have a healing process themselves to go through and just reopening the business again was a big step.
THOSE who didn't lose staff or family members think how lucky they are. Worrying about money seems wrong, but some are struggling.
"Summer trade was lost but no-one has the heart for Christmas, which is usually a recovery time for business."
Mr Gaine said that what Omagh needs before a business boom is a recovery of a different kind.
"We need the hub back, we need a buzz back in the town and a return to the atmosphere it once had. That will take time."
Shopping in Omagh, even if you have never been before, you sense a cloud hanging over the place. Its obvious things aren't as they should be.
There is a depressing sense of loss and absence but there is also enough hope to ensure Omagh will recover.
The council plans to erect a Christmas tree this week in a bid to brighten the gloom and instil some sense of the festive season.
And Michael Gaine believes that when the calendar no longer reads 1998, Omagh can start to put the horror of August 15 behind it.
"Time is a healer," he said. "In the New Year we can look forward and leave this awful, violent year behind.
"It will feel better to say 1999 and leave 1998 in the past."
Special Report Donna Carton
THE TOWN WERE JOY IS A FORGOTTEN WORD
GRIEF-stricken Omagh is the town that Christmas has forgotten.
The commercial razzmatazz of the festive season has bypassed the close-knit Co Tyrone community where December 25 will be a silent and very sad night indeed.
The bomb-damaged buildings have been torn down but traces of that terrible day in August are everywhere - not physical traces you can touch; rather, they are empty spaces.
The town centre has lost its heart, its buzz and, saddest of all, its young people.
There is trade again in Omagh, but it is not business as usual. The Real IRA blast last August 15 which killed 29 people and injured hundreds blew the soul out of a thriving market town.
More than three months on, the people are still struggling to erase horrific memories of the carnage.
On Saturday people were out shopping and walking about, but the streets were far from packed and had none of the pre-Christmas cheer already building up in other towns and cities.
There are no decorations, no festive lights and the shops haven't bothered to run their annual Christmas clubs.
Walking from shop to shop you get the niggling feeling that something else is missing. Then it dawns - the teenagers have gone, for their parents, but the big, noisy, laughing groups of young people who used to hang about, spending their day buying CDs and drinking coffee are absent.
As with many others, fear and the terrible memories have sent them elsewhere or kept them at home.
Rita Halloway and her sister Elaine, out shopping for "a few bits and pieces", described how their town had changed.
Rita said: "It's a bit easier for us to come here because we weren't there the day of the bomb.
"It must be really difficult for those who were caught up in it to return to the scene of the horror.
"It's noticeable, though, that most of them don't. It's a quieter town centre we have now.
"At first it was hard to get traders to re-open their stores, now it's hard getting people to come here again."
Elaine said: "Just think of the families and friends of the 29 people who were killed - they don't want to come here to be reminded.
"And the hundreds, who were injured - apart from their injuries, think of what they witnessed that day, the things they saw or heard.
"It's so difficult for those people, already haunted by memories, to come back here to shop again.
"It's a slow, slow recovery process that Omagh is going through."
But the recently-launched "Give A Day To Omagh" campaign is beginning to take hold.
DERRY woman Irene Doherty and her children travelled to Omagh on Saturday to do some shopping and show a little support.
She said: "I just thought I'd do my bit to show Omagh that people from elsewhere think about them and what they've gone through.
"I have a better choice of shops in Derry but I decided to come here to shop today to help Omagh traders get back on their feet and show we care.
"If other people did it for just one day in the run-up to Christmas I'm sure it would help the town."
The Doherty family are not unique. People have been arriving from all over Northern Ireland and the Republic.
In Michael Gaine's restaurant a bunch of flowers sits on the front desk. The message on the card is one of support from "shoppers from Belfast".
Mr Gaine, chairman of the town's Chamber of Commerce, said: "A group of people came in, explained they were from Belfast and had come to show support and they left the flowers.
"It was a lovely gesture. Think of the many atrocities and bombs Belfast has endured over the years, but people don't stop to do something for the city.
"Yet these people took time out to come here for us."
The "Give A Day To Omagh" idea seems to be catching on, and clubs and groups from all over Ireland have contacted the Chamber to say they'll be bringing a busload of people to the town on a Saturday between now and Christmas.
The Chamber believes it is just the boost the town needs, not simply financially but emotionally.
The trappings of Christmas are not entirely absent from the town.
Clothing stores such as Dorothy Perkins has the usual December stock of party wear and evening dresses: Boots carries its usual range of festive gifts and cards; and Toy Master on Bridge Street is packed with enough of the latest games and gadgets to delight a whole school of children.
But the centre of Omagh does not have the glitzy, festive feel enjoyed by other places, and there is no buzz of anticipation and no too-early carol playing or over-the-top tinsel displays.
Traders are feeling the pinch in what is normally a boom time, but none will complain publicly.
Mr Gaine said: "Perhaps privately they will look at what they've lost but their main priorities are greater than money.
"Many traders have a healing process themselves to go through and just reopening the business again was a big step.
THOSE who didn't lose staff or family members think how lucky they are. Worrying about money seems wrong, but some are struggling.
"Summer trade was lost but no-one has the heart for Christmas, which is usually a recovery time for business."
Mr Gaine said that what Omagh needs before a business boom is a recovery of a different kind.
"We need the hub back, we need a buzz back in the town and a return to the atmosphere it once had. That will take time."
Shopping in Omagh, even if you have never been before, you sense a cloud hanging over the place. Its obvious things aren't as they should be.
There is a depressing sense of loss and absence but there is also enough hope to ensure Omagh will recover.
The council plans to erect a Christmas tree this week in a bid to brighten the gloom and instil some sense of the festive season.
And Michael Gaine believes that when the calendar no longer reads 1998, Omagh can start to put the horror of August 15 behind it.
"Time is a healer," he said. "In the New Year we can look forward and leave this awful, violent year behind.
"It will feel better to say 1999 and leave 1998 in the past."
Further Information
Publisher: THE MIRROR
Ref: TM/078
Published Date: 23-Nov-98
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