THEY'LL NEVER WALK ALONE
They'll never walk alone
At the conclusion of last week a group of perfect strangers reached out to a group of young people from this area traumatised by the Omagh bomb.
For a few days they rolled out the red carpet to our young people and tried, in their own way, to reach out to our beloved town. It was a profoundly moving gesture, one of hundreds, or thousands in recent days. But the visit to Liverpool was different, for whilst the Omagh tragedy, brought instantaneous and international grief and messages of support, when the headlines moved away from Omagh, there was perhaps, a possibility that the people of the town bereaved and maimed or otherwise traumatised in the tragedy would be allowed to slip into the background whilst other issues captured the headlines. The people of Liverpool have shown us, through their kindness to our young people, that they care passionately for the plight of the victims.
When forty thousand football supporters saluted the Omagh group in Goodison Park, it was an emotional moment, made all the more poignant by virtue of the fact that, Liverpool, knows what it is to suffer.
In 1989, the Hillsborough disaster cast a terrible pall over the city when almost one hundred people perished when crushed against the security barriers at Leppings Lane.
The generosity of their support for some of the young victims of the Omagh bomb, was heartening, all the more so, because it was the ordinary people of Liverpool who made the visit special. In opening their homes, in providing support, comfort and distraction; they have done a service to us, and they have honoured all of the victims of the Omagh bomb.
At the conclusion of last week a group of perfect strangers reached out to a group of young people from this area traumatised by the Omagh bomb.
For a few days they rolled out the red carpet to our young people and tried, in their own way, to reach out to our beloved town. It was a profoundly moving gesture, one of hundreds, or thousands in recent days. But the visit to Liverpool was different, for whilst the Omagh tragedy, brought instantaneous and international grief and messages of support, when the headlines moved away from Omagh, there was perhaps, a possibility that the people of the town bereaved and maimed or otherwise traumatised in the tragedy would be allowed to slip into the background whilst other issues captured the headlines. The people of Liverpool have shown us, through their kindness to our young people, that they care passionately for the plight of the victims.
When forty thousand football supporters saluted the Omagh group in Goodison Park, it was an emotional moment, made all the more poignant by virtue of the fact that, Liverpool, knows what it is to suffer.
In 1989, the Hillsborough disaster cast a terrible pall over the city when almost one hundred people perished when crushed against the security barriers at Leppings Lane.
The generosity of their support for some of the young victims of the Omagh bomb, was heartening, all the more so, because it was the ordinary people of Liverpool who made the visit special. In opening their homes, in providing support, comfort and distraction; they have done a service to us, and they have honoured all of the victims of the Omagh bomb.
Further Information
Publisher: ULSTER HERALD
Ref: UH/0621
Published Date: 05-Nov-98
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