John Hume was a man I admired. In celebrating his life we can recollect on his contribution to peace in Northern Ireland, the value of that peace while being ever-mindful of its fragility. It also makes us aware that individuals can make a huge difference by staying on message and having the courage of their convictions. As the programmes of remembrance and tributes to former Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) and Nobel Laureate, John Hume, played out on TV and radio, my childhood memories of a fractured society were awakened.

This fear went along with eating cornflakes, buttering toast and sipping tea

I was just 10 years old when it started. Every morning at breakfast time, Dad would relate to Mam the bombs detonated, atrocities committed and the lives lost during the night. The conflict in Northern Ireland or the Troubles as it was called, raged throughout my childhood and beyond, spanning 30 years. It did impact my young life and I feared that the violence would spread south. This fear went along with eating cornflakes, buttering toast and sipping tea.

Normal life had to go on in Northern Ireland too. I remember wishing I didn’t have to listen to the news. It was always painful. I didn’t understand why people in the north were always defined by their religion. Words such as “Protestant”, “Catholic”, “unionist”, “loyalist” and “nationalist” were all confusing for a primary-school girl, not to mention the politics.

As a 16-year-old girl, the murder of the Miami Showband was a huge atrocity, I could never understand

In 1971, I went away to boarding school where television was restricted but for exceptional events in the country. The Dublin and Monaghan bombings were some of those times. It was 1974, the year I did the inter-cert. Guilford, Woolwich and Birmingham happened that year too. There were ceasefires and truces and lots of failures. I remember so many bombs in Northern Ireland and the UK and I also forget an awful lot. As a 16-year-old girl, the murder of the Miami Showband was a huge atrocity, I could never understand.

But then most people don’t understand war and sometimes the people at war don’t remember where the hatred started. The London Hilton and Green Park Tube Station bombings stick in my mind as does the Warrenpoint Ambush. By now you are noticing that it’s the place names that I remember and not what political or religious persuasion the people killed and maimed held.

Holiday friend

We used to holiday in a chalet in Tramore for two weeks in the summer. In the next chalet was a Northern family from the Crumlin Road in Belfast. Catherine and I met during several summers; we wrote to each other for a while. Pen friends were a serious thing when I was growing up. I remember her writing to tell me that they had to leave that home because of the violence, which is probably why the address sticks in my memory. I regret that we stopped writing to each other after that. In those brief meetings each year, I learned of the everyday fear that terrified my pen friend.

The fewer attendees due to COVID-19 restrictions made it somehow more intimate and a fitting tribute for the man

In the future, the Troubles will just be part of history in school. For my generation, we remember the carnage and the fear that flowed across the border into the republic. I sat to watch the State funeral mass for John Hume. The fewer attendees due to COVID-19 restrictions made it somehow more intimate and a fitting tribute for the man who championed the civil rights of everyone across the political divide. He did it by focusing on social justice and channelling support for better economic conditions in Northern Ireland. His wife Pat looked elegant and dignified as she mourned the loss of her husband. It can’t have been easy to support and rear her family in the public eye.

Candle for peace

As 9pm struck on the day John Hume was laid to rest in Derry, I lit the candle for peace in our world, as I’m sure many did across the whole island. There are conflicts all over the world that need men and women cut from the same cloth as John Hume to find solutions.

John Hume’s son, Aidan, wrote a beautiful poem for his father’s funeral. He could not come home from Boston because of the pandemic. These memorable lines characterised John Hume and are food for thought on how we live our lives.

It’s in our hearts and minds, where we need to bridge the gap…

Difference is but the accident of birth, and everyone has the right to the same self-worth.