THE CHAMPAGNE flowed and Van Morrison sang as some of Ulster’s most famous sons and daughters gathered at St James’s Palace in London on Wednesday night.
Among them was Martin Mcguinness, the Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland, who had never been inside one of the Queen’s royal palaces before.
The former IRA commander used to believe in the armed struggle against British rule, and is thought to have approved shootings and bombings, so his presence was a historic moment.
Mr Mcguinness joked about having to dress up like a penguin for the black-tie event, and sang the praises of his home town, Londonderry – or Derry, as nationalists call it. Next year, it will become the first UK City of Culture, and the proud Sinn Fein member joked that it would earn yet another name: “Legend-derry.”
There were smiles – but then the bombs went off.
Barely a day after the party, Londonderry was shaken by two explosions. The first went off at 7.44pm on Thursday night outside the tourist office on Foyle Street. The second was four minutes later, near council offices on Strand Road.
They were only small bombs, probably carried in rucksacks, and there were no casualties because the police had been given a telephone warning and time to clear the area. But this was a lucky escape, said Ch Supt Stephen Martin, head of the Police Service of Northern Ireland in the city. “Thankfully, we are not dealing with mass casualties or worse. The reckless acts of those who planted these devices stand in stark contrast to those of the brave officers who entered these areas to evacuate local residents and businesses.”
Yesterday, workmen were working to clear up the broken glass and put doors on the tourist office, where a sign urged citizens to “register support” for the City of Culture. Even before it takes on that status, Londonderry will be part of a major campaign to attract visitors to Ulster, with an unprecedented series of high-profile events under the banner NI 2012.
This is what Van Morrison, and television presenters Eamonn Holmes and Christine Bleakley were launching at the palace, along with Mr Mcguinness.
In the shipyards of Belfast where the Titanic was built 100 years ago, a £97 million
There will be no Bloody Sunday march as ‘the time for protest has passed’
visitor centre will open at the end of March.
Festivals, plays, concerts and BBC Proms will follow.
In June, Londonderry will host the first of a nationwide series of cultural events to mark the Olympics. The Peace One Day concert with the band Massive Attack will take place in the former army base at Ebrington Barracks, at the eastern end of the city’s most modern attraction: the beautiful Peace Bridge, which snakes across the Foyle river.
Opened last summer for £13 million from the EU, it links the east bank of the Foyle, where the population has historically been Protestant, with the west bank, where it has mainly been Roman Catholic.
Amy Mcdaid, an 18-yearold student, was walking across into the city on her way to a Saturday job yesterday. “This is a happy place, at least for me,” she said. “The teachers were complaining away about what happened with the bombs, saying the traffic was awful so it was hard for them to get to school, but half the people I know don’t pay it any attention at all.”
What did she think the bombers were hoping to achieve? “I really don’t know.”
The heartland of Republicanism in the city is the Bogside, where a huge sign says, “You are now entering Free Derry.” The local museum offers walking tours of the huge murals on the sides of the houses, one of which is a reminder that this is the place where Bloody Sunday happened 40 years ago next week.
British soldiers opened fire on a civil rights march, leading to the death of 14 people. Last year’s longawaited Saville Report strongly condemned the conduct of the soldiers that day, and the Prime Minister apologised in the Commons.
But even here, where memories and emotions are strong, there is a desire to move on. This year, for the first time, there will be no collective march to mark the anniversary. There will be a lecture, a remembrance Mass and a ceremony at the Bloody Sunday monument on Rossville Street, and some relatives may walk the route, but more than 100 others have signed a letter declaring that a march is no longer fitting, because “the time for