Wanderings and Wonderings

Firstly my son Andrew, a Press Officer for Enfield Borough Council, asked me to tell him what it was like being a child during WWII, for an Enfield publication with memoirs concerning that period. This resulted in a lady telephoning him to ask whether I might be the Wendy she worked with at Belling Cookers of Enfield 45 years ago. Two phone calls later, we met in Potters Bar involving four hours of non-stop chat, not to mention two sore throats, lunch and a stroll round the park.

Norma is a Deacon of Oakwood Baptist Church and gave me a leaflet announcing the forthcoming event of a discussion between Harvey Thomas, a PR consultant who had worked for Margaret Thatcher, and Pat Magee, a former IRA bomber responsible for the explosion at The Grand Hotel, Brighton in 1984, when the hotel was badly damaged, and several people killed and maimed, hosted by broadcaster, Jeremy Vine, of the BBC.

The meeting started before a large, expectant audience. Harvey had miraculously survived the bombing after falling through the hotel floors, buried under tons of rubble and being trapped for two and a half hours before being rescued. A large man, he was amazingly uninjured, back on his feet and attending the Tory Conference the following morning with the Prime Minister, and suffered no after effects at all, either physically or mentally.

It was thirteen years later, after preaching on the subject of forgiveness in America, that he realised that he should forgive the bomber, Pat Magee. After contacting him whilst he was in the Maze Prison in Northern Ireland, a friendship developed which included Harvey’s family.

Harvey shared his thoughts and feelings with the audience and Pat Magee gave his view point. However, this I found difficult to understand, since he did not say ‘sorry’ about the pain and suffering he had inflicted upon others, reiterating that the IRA was fighting an oppressive British Government. This seemed to be his mantra. Even when the bomb had gone off whilst he was in Cork his first thought, when he heard it had been successful, was not about the damage he had inflicted on innocent people but relief. He regretted that it had been necessary but he would not say he was sorry. He was given several life sentences for his crime, but was released following the Good Friday Agreement and he has now been free for ten years. He also said that he had no concept of the meaning of forgiveness and certainly did not have a faith.

I felt extremely sad that this man found it impossible to apologise to the man who had nearly died, who had befriended and forgiven him. I can only assume he is still on a long journey of discovery before he realises that forgiveness, although complex, is not only a healing process for the offended but also the offender. It is the way to find peace within oneself and lift the heavy burden of guilt, but as he said, he does not believe in the Bible.

The evening was certainly not as perhaps we had expected, however it revealed Harvey as not only a man of stature but also a man of faith, whereas the bomber seemed depressed and sad. It must have taken some form of courage to face an audience, and he was honest in expressing his thoughts, but when I asked him how he coped with such a burden he had no answer. I found this rather chilling and uncomfortable in a very real sense. The silence said it all.

Wendy Keeling Taylor, November 2009.

We are very grateful to Norma’s friend Wendy for sharing her personal response to the evening on Tuesday 3 November. Gordon.