This year’s annual Gordon Wilson Lecture was delivered by the respected peace campaigner Colin Parry. This special event is dedicated to Gordon Wilson who, on 5 August 1994, was our special guest at a ceremony to mark the opening of our school here on the Lawnfield site.
Like Gordon Wilson, the lives of the Parry family were transformed by an unimaginable tragedy. On 20 March 1993, their twelve-year-old son Tim and three-year-old Johnathan Ball were killed and 54 others hurt when two terrorist bombs exploded in their home town of Warrington.
In the midst of their grief, Colin Parry said he and his wife Wendy decided to reject anger and instead to focus on “turning something bad into something good." Over the following years, they worked tirelessly to create a charity called the Tim Parry and Johnathan Ball Peace Foundation and the building of a Peace Centre in Warrington. The Foundation has focused on young people, running exchanges and providing leadership development opportunities. It has worked alongside other NGOs and charities to promote peace and to support those at risk from violence and extremism. Looking back, Colin said it was this peace work that was "the glue which has kept our family together."
Colin shared his experiences of meeting leading politicians as part of the peace process, in the UK, Ireland and United States. Like Gordon Wilson’s efforts, the Warrington project played its part in helping to bring peace: “The pebble in the water that was Tim and Jonathan caused a tsunami that, in the end, led to a whole new approach.”
Colin and Wendy’s work has been widely recognized, including a Global Award for Peace, also given to Nelson Mandela, Pope John Paul II and former US President Jimmy Carter.
In his moving address, Colin reflected on his family’s extraordinary journey over the past thirty years and the life his son Tim might have had. His final message underlined the importance of mutual respect in society and of young people from different communities being educated together.
We were delighted to be joined on the evening by Gordon Wilson’s daughter Julie-Ann and her husband John. Thank you too to the members of our local community who came along, including representatives from our local churches.
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