Guernsey Press

Mountbatten bombing anniversary ‘a reminder of dark days’, service told

Church of Ireland Archdeacon Isaac Hanna addressed a commemoration just outside the seaside village of Mullaghmore, Co Sligo.

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The 40th anniversary of the bombing that killed Lord Mountbatten and three others serves as a stark reminder of dark days no one wants to return, a service for the victims has been told.

The commemoration of the fishing boat blast that killed the Queen’s second cousin, two members of his family and a local boat boy should be used to rededicate people to the causes of reconciliation and justice, a cleric said.

The parents of Paul Maxwell, the Co Fermanagh teenager who was working on the boat when it blew up, were among those who came to remember 40 years on.

John Maxwell and Mary Hornsey, sitting either side of their daughter Lisa McKean, listened as Archdeacon Hanna spoke of a day when “innocence was lost”.

Mary Hornsey, Lisa McKean and John Maxwell
Mary Hornsey, Lisa McKean and John Maxwell (Liam McBurney/PA)

As well as killing the great uncle and mentor of Prince Charles and 15-year-old schoolboy Paul, the bomb on the Shadow V also claimed the lives of Lady Doreen Brabourne, the 83-year-old mother-in-law of Lord Mountbatten’s daughter, and his 14-year-old grandson Nicholas Knatchbull.

During the service, John Maxwell read verses from Seamus Heaney’s Cure At Troy.

John Maxwell reads a verse by Seamus Heaney
John Maxwell reads a verse by Seamus Heaney (Liam McBurney/PA)

He then joined Paul’s mother to lay a wreath at the simple green cross memorial overlooking the waves of the Atlantic Ocean.

Ms Hornsey later placed a single yellow rose on a plaque dedicated to the victims, kissing the flower before letting go.

Mary Hornsey lays a yellow rose at the memorial cross
Mary Hornsey lays a yellow rose at the memorial cross (Liam McBurney/PA)

“The events of 40 years ago are hard to imagine as we look out over this scene,” he said, as Paul’s parents listened from the front row.

“And yet they speak of innocence lost, they speak of a time when horror visited this coastline and this place, they speak of a time of confusion and fear.

“I also want to say they speak of a time when a community rallied around those that had lost loved ones, when this community stood with this family in particular and all those who had been affected in some way, and said, ‘this was not done in our name’.

“We stand with you and there is comfort and strength in knowing that you have this support in this place at this time.”

The archdeacon said the bombers had not succeeded if their goal was to strike fear into people.

“Fear can have a stifling effect on those who are coerced and are intimidated in any way, and perhaps that was the intention that day, but the opposite has been the effect,” he said.

“Today is as much about rededicating ourselves to the cause of justice, the cause of reconciliation and the cause of freedom so that no person should have to go through what you as a group have gone through.”

Afterwards, Ms Hornsey said the service had been of great comfort to the family.

“I think it was absolutely wonderful that the community came out today and organised this lovely service of remembrance,” she said.

“I would like to say thank you to all of those people who took part in this.

“It has helped us enormously because I feel that in this service there was love and support for our family and we appreciate that.

“I feel really privileged to be here with all these people, to hear their singing and their words of comfort, and to meet people who had actually been here on that day.

“A friend of Paul’s who is now 55, Paul and this friend Matty, they were best friends, he has never had another (best) friend since Paul died, so hearing all that and meeting old friends and people I have not seen who were actually here on the day of the explosion has meant a great deal because of their love and support, and the people of Mullaghmore have been absolutely wonderful.”

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