Squaring up
to the past
In a year that marks 50 years since the start of the Troubles, Rev Tony Davidson outlines a PCI project in process that, once completed, will reflect the experiences and voices of many Presbyterians from those dark days.
I
grew up in Dungannon, County Tyrone. The Market Square sat on a plateau at the top of the town. Within its four corners could be found a cenotaph, Orange hall, local banks, post office, police station and various shops. At the bottom end of the Square, Irish Street, Church Street and Scotch Street streamed off in different directions, giving a clue to the town’s historical, religious and political divisions. On 24 August 1968, 2,500 people marched from Coalisland to Dungannon wanting civil rights. They sought an end to discrimination in housing and jobs. Another 1,500 counterprotested in Market Square. Recently, I asked Very Rev Dr Andrew Rodgers, minister emeritus in Dungannon, about his memories of that day. He told me how the Church of Ireland rector, the Methodist minister, the Roman Catholic priest and himself had gathered together in the Square, trying to ensure that the protests did not degenerate into violence. So, on what is sometimes referred to as ‘the first day of the Troubles’, we have evidence of how Churches had engaged with what was going on in the streets. In 1975 I was in my final year at the Royal School Dungannon. By now, the Square had been pockmarked by frequent bombs and Dungannon was precariously perched on one edge of the Mid Ulster ‘murder triangle’. On 22 September, as
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Herald November 2018
some of us prepared to go to the Queen’s University open day, we heard a bomb explode. Later in the day, news emerged of how the Caledon bus had been leaving off its passengers at the top of the Square when a bomb in Scotch Street exploded about 100 yards away. A car jack was catapulted into the morning sky. It dropped tragically on
top of Maurice Hobson. Around that period, Maurice had been attending the Christian Endeavour in our church in Scotch Street. I remember visiting Maurice when he lay critical in hospital. His glasses had shattered his face,
…our Church has courageously decided to transparently allow others to critically assess our witness.
requiring 80 stitches; his jaw was broken and his nose smashed. His brain was damaged, causing him to suffer epilepsy and his eyesight was twisted. When he emerged from a coma he underwent extensive plastic surgery. Maurice had always been a skilled artist. After the bomb, he used his art to demonstrate what it is like to be a victim, from the inside out. Since his eyesight was skewed, he intentionally skewed his art. He created more than 80 paintings and photographic-based images, many of which are self-portraits, with his face horribly contorted. Tragically, on 29 September 1987, Maurice suffered a fatal epileptic fit. Thirty years on from his death, Maurice’s graphic artwork has been displayed in Ranfurly House in the Market Square in Dungannon, just yards from the explosion. His brother David, who now worships in Cootehill Presbyterian Church, has stated the reasons for the exhibition. “It’s to give his life’s work recognition and to make people rethink the avenue of violence. We hope it might prevent anybody else going down the route that had led to the condition he found himself in.” There are thousands of people across Northern Ireland, like David Hobson and Andrew Rodgers, who have stories to tell. For the project ‘How does the Presbyterian Church respond to the Troubles?’, 122 of them were interviewed. At the 2016 General Assembly, I was appointed to convene a panel under the Council of Public Affairs which included