Irish community honours victims with short video after Covid halts annual ceremony

Report by Bill McCarthy

For many Suttonians, the 46th anniversary of the Birmingham Pub Bombings on November 21, will bring back shocking memories.

I, like many young people at the time, frequented both pubs, the Tavern in Town and The Mulberry Bush, sometimes on the same evening. On that particular night, if I hadn’t been delayed at night school, I could have been in either at the time of the blasts.

It looked like a narrow escape at the time and so it proved as 21 young people lost their lives and 182 were injured, many maimed for life in the IRA atrocity.

I had Irish parents, both of whom were out and about that night and was fearful of the backlash against the Irish community.

That backlash duly came, but quickly subsided if my distant memory recalls correctly, but we lived in fear of reprisals in the immediate aftermath.

Most of us know what happened next, the false imprisonment of the so-called ‘Birmingham Six’ and subsequent police scandal when the West Midlands Serious Crime Squad was disbanded over corruption and misuse of power.

Worst of all, the terrible ongoing heartache for the families that the perpetrators remain unpunished.

The Irish community however has never forgotten the victims and for the past two years the city’s Birmingham Irish Association and wider community has gathered beneath the trees memorial on Grand Central Plaza to remember those who lost their lives on that evening in 1974.

Sadly, this year due to the ongoing situation with COVID-19 it will not be possible to hold a ceremony that would allow them to pay respects in a fitting manner and to remember the tragedy that struck the city that evening.

A committee is currently working on a short video that will be released at 8.17pm on the 21st November through various social media channels and outlets.

Further information will be released shortly so please keep an eye on the website and Facebook page. Visit www.birish.org.uk/get-e-news, for more details.

Birmingham Irish Association is the Midlands’ leading charity providing support and cultural services to the Irish community. It is based in the Heart of the Irish Quarter in Digbeth, Birmingham.

Were you there, do you have any memories? Send them to macfive54@gmail.com, leave your comments below.

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WIFE OF PATIENT WHO WAS ABLE TO SPEND ONE LAST CHRISTMAS AT HOME ASKS PEOPLE TO SUPPORT ST GILES HOSPICE RAFFLE

A woman whose husband was able to enjoy one last Christmas at home with his family thanks to St Giles Hospice is calling on people to support its festive raffle.

Gill Henley’s husband Charlie (aged 54) was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer in October 2019 but was able to stay with his loved ones throughout the Christmas period with the help of his St Giles Hospice Community Nurse. 

Gill said: “Thanks to our wonderful St Giles nurse, Shelly, we were able to spend our last Christmas together at home. Without her care and support I really don’t know how we would have coped. 

“Even at Christmas St Giles were there for us day and night. It gave us such peace of mind and we were able to relax and enjoy ourselves knowing that we had their support to call on if we needed it. 

“Shelly did everything she could to make Charlie as comfortable as possible and he was able to stand up with his frame and put Santa on top of the Christmas tree – a memory I’ll always cherish.

“We celebrated Christmas Day at home surrounded by our close family, and Charlie felt well enough that we could bring Christmas forward to celebrate with the rest of his family a few days before too – he was really able to enjoy it and to take part.”

Charlie was admitted to St Giles Hospice in January 2020 for pain management and after six days he felt well enough to go home to Swadlincote. However, he was readmitted a few weeks later when his condition took a turn for the worse and five days later he died in Gill’s arms at the Whittington hospice.

Gill, who previously lived in Branston and whose mother Audrey also died at St Giles in 1993, added: “People think that hospices are just places that you go to at the end of life, but St Giles really helped Charlie to be at home for as long as he could, and made him as comfortable as he could possibly be.

“They supported the whole family – our community nurse was our angel and the team at the hospice were fantastic. I hope people will support the hospice raffle if they can because St Giles Hospice has to be there for other local families like ours when they need it.”

It costs more than £10 million to provide the care St Giles offers every year and the hospice needs to raise more than £850,000 each month to keep services going, at a time when there has been a big increase in the number of people needing hospice care.

Tickets for the hospice Christmas raffle are now on sale at £1 each and goodies up for grabs include a first prize of £8,000 or a brand new Kia Picanto car from Burton Kia, £2,000 or a luxury holiday and other cash prizes.

St Giles Hospice Lottery Manager Alison Jerram said: “We’re asking our local community to really get behind our Christmas Raffle this year – the money it raises is more important than ever during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Every £1 ticket sold helps us to continue supporting people in the local community who are living with a terminal illness, and we’ve never needed the support of our community more than we need it now.

“We’ve had to cancel many of our events in 2020 which has really affected our income, so every raffle ticket sold will help to ensure we can continue to care for local people when they need us in these uncertain times.

“The raffle is a great way for our supporters to have some fun – with the satisfaction of knowing that they are also helping to fund St Giles – and may win a fabulous cash prize or have a new car or holiday to look forward to in the New Year.  There are also extra prizes up for grabs for people who buy their tickets early!”

Tickets are now on sale and anyone wanting to join the draw can find out more or buy raffle tickets online at www.stgileshospice.com/raffle or by calling the Raffle Team on 01543 434020. The raffle draw will be made on 20 January 2021.

For further information or for any media enquiries please contact gary.young@stgileshospice.com or Gary Young on 07855 926123.

A woman who says she would have ended up dead or in prison has praised a West Midlands scheme, funded by the Police and Crime Commissioner, for saving her life.
 
Jacqui (not her real name) from Birmingham was, for years, the victim of violent and controlling behaviour at the hands of her partner. Things escalated to the point that he controlled her mentally, financially, socially and even sexually.
 
But it was after he stopped giving her enough money to feed her children that she began shoplifting.
 
Until one day she was caught.
 
However, ironically, she says it was getting caught that saved her life. Police offered her a route to safety by referring her to a scheme funded by the West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner called New Chance.
 
The PCC has now announced that the scheme will be funded until at least April 2021.
 
The initiative offers hundreds of female offenders in the region the help they need to rebuild their lives and step away from criminality. It recognises that offending often stems from trauma, such as domestic violence, poverty, mental health or addiction.
 
So far 700 women in our area have been helped by the programme. Jacqui is now in a much better place and is hoping to return to work.
 
The PCC set up the £270,000 a year New Chance initiative in order to break the cycle of offending amongst women. The aim is to take women away from the Criminal Justice System who have been identified by the police as someone who might benefit from extra support. This help includes practical and emotional help based on a woman’s individual needs. It’s estimated the investment in the New Chance programme has saved several million pounds in costs associated with offending.
 
The project launched in 2016 to operate across Birmingham and the Black Country. Based on the success of the programme, New Chance has now been rolled out right across the West Midlands area. It is run by a number of organisations including Anawim, Black Country Women’s Aid, Fry Accord Housing and Changing Lives.
 
A recent evaluation by the University of Birmingham shows that women with mental health issues, enrolled on the New Chance scheme, were up to 37% less likely to reoffend. Whilst reoffending rates amongst women with substance misuse issues dropped by more than half.
 
The initiative has been so successful that it’s been shortlisted for an award by the Howard League for Penal Reform.
 
“It is so pleasing to hear a success story like Jacqui’s”, said Police and Crime Commissioner, David Jamieson.  
 
“I’ve been funding the New Chance scheme for four years because we know it’s making a difference to the lives of hundreds of women, breaks the cycle of crime and saves the taxpayer money.
 
“Many female offenders are actually victims themselves and have been subject to untold abuse. New Chance works because it tackles those underlying problems.  
 
“This initiative is helping to reduce crime, our prisons are less full, hundreds of women’s lives have been saved and fewer victims have been created.
 
“I am delighted the New Chance programme has been nominated for a Howard League Penal Reform award.”
 
Meanwhile Jacqui, said: “In early adulthood I was a successful, confident young woman with everything to live for.
 
“I then started a relationship with a man who became very controlling and violent – mentally, physically, sexually and financially.
 
“With no money and no way of feeding my children, I regret to say I took to stealing food from shops.
 
“Before long I got caught. But that was the best thing that ever happened to me. I explained to the shop manager and the police officers what was happening at home and before long I was receiving the right kind of help from police and the New Chance programme.
 
“Without the help of the New Chance programme I would have either ended up in prison or dead.”
 
Sarah Gallagher is the Service Manager at Anawim, one of the organisations that runs New Chance,  she said: “New Chance has enabled us to work with West Midlands Police to provide early intervention for women who have received a conditional caution.
 
“It is important to provide the support at the right time before they become entrenched within the criminal justice system.
 
“The outcomes have been fantastic, from supporting women financially, dealing with childhood trauma, domestic violence and sexual violence to supporting women into employment.”