'Then to Rosemount and the British Army, soldiers training their rifles on me but relaxing a little after a ‘Good morning’ or ‘Happy Christmas’.'
‘Derry Christmas’, by Will Warren, from January 7, 1972
‘I looked outside to see two shops burst into flames.’
The contradictions, the contrasts, ever present in Derry are accentuated at Christmas time.
During the preceding days the explosions were stepped up considerably. One day I was talking to a Derry Friend in the War on Want shop as dusk was falling. A sudden blast shook the building, and customers scurried away. I looked outside to see two shops burst into flames. Crowds gathered, shots rang out, youths collected stones. Soon afterwards came four more explosions, one of them at the Waterside Boys’ Club, run by Fr. Jimmy Doherty, a pacifist who is a good friend of the Fellowship of Reconciliation. One of our FoR boys was caught by the blast. After a night in hospital he was allowed back home. He returned to work, only to faint at a bomb scare in the shop next door.
