FLORAL WREATHS FILL GARDEN OF REMEMBERANCE
Floral wreaths fill Garden of Remembrance to capacity
By: JACQUELINE COURTNEY
Poignant messages show raw hurt still felt
THE Garden of Remembrance was transformed a profusion of colour as people of all ages and from all creeds queued from early morning to lay their own floral tribute or simply offer a silent prayer.
Relatives of the deceased and injured from the Omagh district, Buncrana and Madrid laid floral tributes and wreaths at the Special Remembrance Garden in a private ceremony that day.
One from the heartbroken Barker family, whose son James was one of the Buncrana children who died in the bomb, simply read "your smiling eyes are always with us".
The beautiful heart shaped floral tribute, with its simple message, brought tears to the eyes of the many people who called in the garden to remember and to honour Omagh's dead.
Another wreath with a card inscribed "Yes" to the future of our children and "No' to the machinery of death".
Many of the messages were crying out for peace in our troubled land and others pleaded not to let "your sacrifice to have been in vain".
Another flower tribute had the inscription "For Those who Paid the Price of Peace".
It was a heart-breaking scene replayed a year ago on the streets - when young children also give up their favourite teddies and toys to find new homes amongst the hundreds of wreaths and floral tributes.
One of the messages, inscribed on a first anniversary cards left at the scene, contained a passionate message: "We will make sure you did not die in vain".
Wreaths were also laid by the Chairman of Omagh District Council, Allan Rainey, Omagh Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Omagh Ethnic Community Support group, the Emergency services including NI Fire Service and Nursing and Ambulance services, voluntary organisations who helped on the day and from businesses throughout the area.
Messages of love, sympathy, support from all over the world also lay on the ground and poetry hung from the garden archway. One read:
"If only they had felt the awful hurt they caused, maybe before this mission they would have paused.
But if division and anger they wanted to start
They have found out that they did not break our heart."
By: JACQUELINE COURTNEY
Poignant messages show raw hurt still felt
THE Garden of Remembrance was transformed a profusion of colour as people of all ages and from all creeds queued from early morning to lay their own floral tribute or simply offer a silent prayer.
Relatives of the deceased and injured from the Omagh district, Buncrana and Madrid laid floral tributes and wreaths at the Special Remembrance Garden in a private ceremony that day.
One from the heartbroken Barker family, whose son James was one of the Buncrana children who died in the bomb, simply read "your smiling eyes are always with us".
The beautiful heart shaped floral tribute, with its simple message, brought tears to the eyes of the many people who called in the garden to remember and to honour Omagh's dead.
Another wreath with a card inscribed "Yes" to the future of our children and "No' to the machinery of death".
Many of the messages were crying out for peace in our troubled land and others pleaded not to let "your sacrifice to have been in vain".
Another flower tribute had the inscription "For Those who Paid the Price of Peace".
It was a heart-breaking scene replayed a year ago on the streets - when young children also give up their favourite teddies and toys to find new homes amongst the hundreds of wreaths and floral tributes.
One of the messages, inscribed on a first anniversary cards left at the scene, contained a passionate message: "We will make sure you did not die in vain".
Wreaths were also laid by the Chairman of Omagh District Council, Allan Rainey, Omagh Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Omagh Ethnic Community Support group, the Emergency services including NI Fire Service and Nursing and Ambulance services, voluntary organisations who helped on the day and from businesses throughout the area.
Messages of love, sympathy, support from all over the world also lay on the ground and poetry hung from the garden archway. One read:
"If only they had felt the awful hurt they caused, maybe before this mission they would have paused.
But if division and anger they wanted to start
They have found out that they did not break our heart."
Further Information
Publisher: ULSTER HERALD
Ref: UH/0568
Published Date: 19-Aug-99
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