Father pays tribute to Warrington bombing victim on anniversary

A smile and a personality that attracted friends – that’s how Colin Parry OBE remembers his son Tim, who was only 12 when he was seriously injured by an.IRA bomb in Warrington.as he shopped for football shorts 15 years ago today.

Tim died five days later from injuries sustained in the blast which also killed three-year-old.Johnathan Ball.and left 56 people injured.

Tim’s parents campaigned to build a peace centre – which is now the Tim Parry-Johnathan Ball Young People’s Centre which is run by the Tim Parry Johnathan Ball Foundation for Peace and the NSPCC.

Mr Parry paid tribute to his son, saying: "In life, Tim was a great ice-breaker, someone with a very engaging personality. His wonderful smile made people see him as a friend and, in many ways, he was a hunter-gatherer of friends for his family.

"He had an impish sense of humour and a thirst for life – making it all the more ironic that it was his life that was taken.

"In death, his name was associated with a tragic event in Warrington but now his name, and that of Johnathan Ball, is associated with a unique centre, providing young children and young adults from Britain, Ireland and beyond with a range of learning programmes on the theme of non violent conflict resolution…and that makes me very proud.

"Looking back, it was a bright sunny day just before Mother’s Day. Our three children had made their separate ways into Warrington to do some shopping. My wife Wendy and I were in Manchester as Wendy’s dad was taking a look at her car.

"We had not listened to the news travelling back to Warrington but our neighbours were on the drive and asked us if we had heard about the bombing. We hadn’t, but we quickly set about accounting for our children. Dominic (then 14) and Abigail (then 11) were unharmed, but when Wendy phoned Tim’s friend’s house, she was told that his friend had been injured and in that moment we went from being a little worried to being extremely worried and we made our way to the hospital.

"After three hours, a Catholic priest who had befriended us asked us to go into a side room and, as you may imagine, it was a request that filled me with a sense of dread. A surgeon entered the room in his green coveralls and asked if we recognised the St Christopher’s medal and watch he was carrying. We recognised them straight away, and he then told us that he had been operating on Tim for several hours.

"We were told he had sustained very serious head injuries and that it was unlikely that he would live through the night. Nothing can ever prepare you for losing a child. It is unbearable and is something you can never imagine.

"Back at home, as we waited for more news, we watched the television reports and everything was about Warrington. They said that a young boy had died and another was severely injured.

"On the Sunday, we went to see Tim. What greeted us was terrifying – his head was completely bandaged, his upper body was pock-marked with shrapnel and tubes were coming from his mouth. Also, there was a distinctive smell, probably of Semtex. We tried to communicate with him, even though we knew that he could not communicate with us…but you don’t think rationally.

"The next five days were a roller coaster. It’s difficult to tell people how we felt at that time. We just had to get through five awful days of waiting. And after Tim died, we had to get through the week before the funeral and then the funeral itself.

"I never think about the people who planted the bomb, but if they ever did come forward and to say "it was me", that might change things. As it is, I have no names, no faces and I prefer it that way.

"How do you cope with these things? You simply have to find ways to manage. You devise coping mechanisms and keep yourself busy. I avoid situations that lead to solitude or silence, instead preferring to be busy.

"Thinking about Tim, yes I do sometimes wonder what he would be doing. He could have been married with children of his own. He could have been an Everton football star. I often recall at Everton matches, Tim would watch the game like me, while Dominic would watch the crowd.

"I am immensely proud that Tim’s name is forever associated with the good work of the Foundation and the Peace Centre."