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The Peace Centre


Sheila_P

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I have read today about the struggle of the Peace Centre. Mr Parry is calling on the Government to subsidise the Centre to the tune of £150k. 

 

I know very little about this charity, even though it's based on the other side of the town from me.  Of course, I know what it is about and the dreadful time that it was created from. Other than that, I know little of what is offered there.

 

Can anybody fill me in on what it does, please, or has it, as people imply on the comments in the national newspaper, simply run it's course?

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Is this the one you meant Shiela ?


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2565765/Colin-Parry-son-Tim-killed-IRA-hits-David-Cameron-turned-plea-cash-help-bombing-victims.html

 

Without wanting to sound awful (and appologies cos I know it will do however I put it) but there a great many other charities doing valuable work for all sorts of causes so I can sort of understand the goverment saying that the Peace Centre should try and source funding from elsewhere just as all the others probably have too.

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Is this the one you meant Shiela ?

 

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2565765/Colin-Parry-son-Tim-killed-IRA-hits-David-Cameron-turned-plea-cash-help-bombing-victims.html

 

Without wanting to sound awful (and appologies cos I know it will do however I put it) but there a great many other charities doing valuable work for all sorts of causes so I can sort of understand the goverment saying that the Peace Centre should try and source funding from elsewhere just as all the others probably have too.

 

 

I would say that is the perfect way to win friends and influence people!!!

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That's the one, Dizzy.  

 

I can't help thinking that Colin Parry sounded rather strident, unless he was misquoted.

 

Hi Gary, thanks for the link, I'd already had a quick look at the website yesterday, to see what they offered.  I noticed that they delivered a lot of courses and got the impression that it had turned into a kind of training centre.

 

When I went back to it today, I read a testimonial from a man who had served in Aden.  He wrote that before becoming involved with the centre, he thought it was just connected to the situation in northern Ireland and the Warrington Bombing.

 

This might be why they are starting to struggle.  I too thought the same thing, that it was there to ease the situation on both sides of a divide.  It has obviously evolved over the years but it is still associated in people's minds with the bombing, which was twenty years ago now.  

 

Perhaps they need a re-brand to emphasise the work they now do.

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I believe the idea of the peace centre has moved on from the IRA atrocity to a more universal project that covers conflicts overseas but the original cause of it coming into being ,the IRA, is now as dim as a Toc H lamp whose cause is much diminished & not very well supported nowadays.

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I just had a better look at their website and they do an awful lot more these days covering a very wide range of services and work.  Surely with such a diverse range there must be many different avenues open towards various funding opportinities and grants.  I guess they will have already looked into all those though. 

Maybe their problem is that they are offering too much so no longer fit into one specific category....  I've no idea....... 

I'm getting confused now though as I thought the whole thing was set for closure due to lack of funding but is it purely the 'Survivors for Peace' programme ?

Colin Parry is on the following tomorrow if anyone wants to listen in by the way.  Bit early for me :oops:

BBC 1 Breakfast 26 Feb approx 06:20

BBC 5 Live approx 07:05

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I agree, Dizzy, they offer a heck of a lot of services.  I can no longer work out what their 'unique selling point' is and if there are organisations around which offer many of the same services/courses as them.

 

I have no doubt at all that they are fulfilling the needs of some people but they need to be more explicit about what they offer.

 

Until I started digging, I was of the opinion that they did things like arrange exchanges between UK and Northern Ireland but, in fact, they seem to offer services to people much further afield.

 

The least thing they need to do is be more specific about what they currently offer, so that people know exactly what they do.

 

It's 20 years since the bombing and, in ignorance of the full facts, people may be thinking that all the people who needed help after it have been helped.

 

Maybe the centre could look for partners to open another centre down south and thus share the load.

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The occasion last year when Martin McGuiness the terrorist strutted on stage inside while relatives of his victims were guarded like criminals by the police outside spoke volumes about the place to me.

And now even the politicians have dropped it, presumably its work is complete, it looks like the self righteous brigade will have to fund their own talking shop.

That won't last for long then. 

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It seems as if a u-turn may be afoot. David Cameron has now agreed to meet Colin Parry.

 

Hmmm, tricky situation for Mr C.  If the government supports this charity, then it opens up a can of worms with all the remaining charities in the country.

 

It will be interesting to see how this pans out.

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Maybe the Peace Centre is something of an embarrassment  to all political parties with the revelations that  IRA members have been given immunity from prosecution. No wonder no one has been charged with the murders of Tim  Parry & Jonathan Ball.  I hope Colin & Wendy Parry & their associates push the issue all the way to the top.

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