Candles fluttered in the air tonight as the families and friends of those killed in the 1974 Birmingham pub bombings gathered to remember their dead, laying flowers and candles at a memorial.
The congregation held a two-minute silence outside St Philip’s Anglican Cathedral in Birmingham marking the exact moment when the first of the bombs went off at the Mulberry Bush in 1974.
Hundreds had gathered in the cathedral for Evensong where the Dean of the Cathedral, Dean Catherine Ogle, attempted to “comfort the weeping and watch over the dead”.
“Support and sustain those who live with the injuries sustained in the pub bombings and those who grieve for loved ones who were killed, and those whose subsequent lives were shortened,” she said.
Two bombs planted by a locally-based IRA group exploded on November 21st, 1974 in two pubs, the Mulberry Bush and the Tavern in the Town, killing 21 people and injuring 182 others. A third bomb did not explode.
The religious service, a mixture of hymns and readings, offered the chance for “quiet reflection”, said Dean Ogle.
“The wounds are still fresh,” she said. “I think it’s important that we still remember.”
The names of the dead were read out by Dean Ogle and Canon Janice Chapman, following a prayer that declared “that we look not to the things that are seen, but to the things that are unseen”.
The full list of the dead is: Jane Davis, aged 17; Stanley Bodmin, 51; James Craig, 34, Maureen Roberts, 20; Stephen Whalley, 21; Anne Hayes, 19; Neil Marsh, 20; Michael Beasley, 30; James Caddick, 40; Pamela Palmer, 19; John Rowland, 46; Paul Davis, 20; Maxine Hambleton, 18, Maryline Nash, 22; Lynn Bennett, 18; Thomas Chaytor, 28; Trevor Thrupp, 33; Charles Gray, 44 and John Jones.
The final victims of the bombings - the worst terrorist outrage in Britain until the 2005 London Tube and bus bombings - were Desmond and Eugene Reilly, sons of Irish emigrants from Co Donegal.
Last night, the Irish in Britain organisation, which represents Irish community organisations throughout Britain, said the tragedies of the Birmingham blasts could not be forgotten.
“Forty years ago today, Birmingham suffered two terrible bombings that devastated the city, shattered families and divided communities. The Irish in Birmingham and across Britain were as appalled by these events as their neighbours but were often treated with culpability.”
Offering sympathies on the anniversary, the organisation said “its thoughts are with the people of Birmingham as we remember the twenty-one innocent victims, their families, friends and communities, who suffered so needlessly”.
“Their suffering was exasperated by the failures of the criminal justice system, which continues to fail both those who lost their lives and those who were left behind.
“There has been no justice for those murdered and only injustice for all those wrongly accused. We cannot change the past, but we can move forward together as a community united in peace as we remember this solemn anniversary,” it said.
Last night, Julie Hambleton, who lost her sister Maxine in the atrocity, said none of the families had been able “to move on”.
Local woman, Pat Bentley, whose friend, Jane Davis, was the youngest victim of the bombings, said the memorial was important even four decades on.
“We have to celebrate the lives they led before this terrible tragedy,” she said. “It was a huge atrocity in Birmingham and it’s affected so many people. We have to remember the people that died.”
