The former Chairman of the Warrington Male Voice Choir, Barrie Johnson, prepared this feature article for the Irish Peace Institute, University of Limerick, August 2008, for publication in the Irish Peace & Development News.
“The Choir, over the past years, have worked tirelessly to conduct concerts in Ireland, in different venues, in prisons …. and, through the language of music, through the Arts, they have brought people together from different backgrounds. They have made, in a significant way, a contribution towards the peace that we are beginning now to see in that troubled part of the world. It has been a long process and there is still a way to go; but mercifully we begin to see results ….”
TERRY WAITE CBE, July 2005
I am often asked why and how the Warrington Male Voice Choir, one of England’s oldest and highly acclaimed male choirs, became so deeply involved in promoting hope and reconciliation in Northern Ireland. The simple answer perhaps lies in the caring human response of ordinary people to an ongoing tragic conflict.
The choir, which traces its formation to 1898, has a long-standing tradition of altruism. Throughout its history, it has assisted numerous charity organisations by its concerts, and has responded loyally in times of national emergency, especially during the two World Wars. Nevertheless, the vicious horror of the IRA bombing of busy Warrington town centre on Saturday 20th March 1993, in which two children were killed and fifty-six people injured, prompted a unique and very special initiative for this amateur organisation.
Many choir members, through their various professions, were involved that day and in the weeks that followed, dealing with the human consequences of the tragedy. The town and its people had been inadvertently drawn into Northern Ireland’s Troubles.
Within days of the outrage, the choir assisted the victims of the tragedy financially, and sought to create links with groups in Ireland working for peace. A capacity Benefit Concert arranged by the choir raised over £11,000 but, more significantly, rang to a call by Terry Waite for the people of Warrington to demand peace and seek reconciliation; to make Warrington the turning point in the political violence of Northern Ireland.
The choir was uniquely placed to carry forward this call for reconciliation. Its appeal to audiences is direct: through the sincerity of the music, the quality of its performance, the presentation and physical presence of the choir’s large numbers. The choir had the administrative structures to maintain a sustained initiative, to deliver high-profile events to audiences representing all traditions, and to encourage and give tangible support to groups working for peace.
By the August of 1993, Concerts for Reconciliation had been arranged in Dublin and Drogheda for the following Easter, to mark in Ireland the first anniversary of the bombings. Dublin, because the public outrage at the Warrington bombings had been expressed most strongly there; an estimated 20,000 people had rallied in the city’s O’Connell Street to denounce the bombings. Drogheda, because historically that city epitomised the human tragedy of past Anglo-Irish relations. Christmas concerts for Peace and Reconciliation were to follow, in Belfast in December 1994, sharing the city’s first Christmas after the IRA Ceasefire, and in Londonderry in December 1995, the city where the Troubles began.
An invitation to participate in the 1996 St. Patrick’s Day parade in Armagh, Ireland’s ecclesiastical centre, signalled the endorsement of the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland. The choir became the first English group to receive such an honour and enjoyed an unprecedented welcome on the streets of Armagh. The choristers were presented with sprigs of shamrock by Cardinal Cahal Daly, Primate of All Ireland, in a powerfully symbolic gesture.
During 1996 Terry Waite became the choir’s Patron, in tribute to the humanitarian role which the choir had adopted. Messages of appreciation were also received from the President of Ireland, Mary Robinson, and from the British Prime Minister, John Major. In the August of that year, concerts for Peace and Reconciliation, arranged in partnership with the Irish Peace Institute, were given before large and enthusiastic audiences in Limerick and at Glenstal Abbey, Co. Limerick. The choir was privileged to be invited to perform as part of the Opening Ceremony of the 38th Rose of Tralee International Festival where, before an audience of 50,000 people, Tanaiste Dick Spring publicly endorsed the choir’s efforts to promote peace.
In December 1997, working in co-operation with Dublin Rotary Club and the Irish Peace Institute, the choir initiated a unique and ambitious Christmas Concert for Peace in Dublin’s National Concert Hall. A 260-strong ‘Youth Choir for Peace’, school children drawn from North and South, Catholic and Protestant, was brought together symbolising hope and harmony. During the visit to Dublin, in Christ Church Cathedral, the choir was presented to Ireland’s newly elected President, Mary McAleese, who offered her personal support. (The occasion caught international attention as President McAleese chose to receive the Anglican Holy Communion in a bold and highly controversial act of reconciliation).
A yet more ambitious and symbolic seasonal event, Christmas Peace and Harmony, was held in the Waterfront Hall, Belfast in December 1998. The concert, arranged in co-operation with Belfast Rotary Club and the Irish Peace Institute, involved a cross-community, cross-border ‘Youth Choir for Peace’ formed by 540 young people, possibly the largest children’s choir assembled in the island of Ireland. The bands of the Royal Ulster Constabulary and An Garda Síochána, in a most significant show of cross-border co-operation, agreed to come together to play as one combined police band for the first time since the founding of the Irish State.
The choir was also invited to perform in Omagh, Co. Tyrone, to bring some Christmas solace to the victims, families and friends in the wake of the devastating bombing of Omagh town centre three months earlier, which was to become Northern Ireland’s worst terrorist atrocity.
The following year, in December 1999, a third event was held in association with the Irish Peace Institute, in Limerick University Concert Hall, again involving a massed cross-border Youth Choir representing all traditions. This was followed by an historic concert in Dublin’s Mountjoy Prison, in the company of Terry Waite. Warrington Male Voice Choir became the first British choir to perform in an Irish jail, a gesture which was supported at the highest level of government.
At Christmas 2000, in addition to further special performances in West Belfast, East Belfast and Omagh, the choir was invited to take part in a Community Christmas Concert in Londonderry by the Apprentice Boys of Derry. Although numerically a small event and somewhat controversial, the concert represented an historic step by the Apprentice Boys towards reconciliation.
A concert dedicated to International Peace, to open the 2002 Sligo International Choral Festival, was followed by a second unique event in an Irish jail. A Goodwill Concert was performed in Castlerea Prison, Co. Roscommon, which led to a private meeting with the Republican paramilitary prisoners, at their invitation, by myself and Terry Waite. During our meeting, an assurance was given that despite weapons decommissioning issues, the IRA’s long campaign of political violence was over.
The members of Warrington Male Voice Choir share a great fellowship and their appeal is by demonstrating that true reconciliation springs from a generosity of spirit. By reaching out to the people of Ireland the choir has made a particular contribution to the peace process. Participation in Mass in Belfast, Derry, Armagh, Dublin, Tralee, and Sligo, together with special Anglican, Methodist and Presbyterian Church services, has led to a wide acceptance of the choir’s purpose and impartiality.
The choir is strictly non-sectarian in its approach. It actively encouraged and financed cross-community activities involving children and teenagers in the interface areas of West Belfast through its Warrington Fund. The fund was established by the choir in March 1994 from the proceeds of the first Dublin concert, and was administered locally in Belfast by Co-operation Ireland. It was maintained for a decade by public donations and further choir events. Direct financial support was also provided for the St. Columb’s Park House Reconciliation Centre in Derry, and for community activities in Limerick.
Each visit by the choir to the island of Ireland demands deep commitment and considerable expense, but creates new friendships, develops civic links, presses home the message of goodwill, gives strength and encouragement to others, and adds to the sense of hope. The choir recognised that the tolerance of young people was the key to a peaceful future and sought to involve young people in its reconciliation concerts, both in Ireland and in England. Youth activities were also made the focus for the Warrington Fund.
The value of the choir’s activities over fifteen years has been generously expressed by Terry Waite in comments to a local newspaper: “The choir have made a profound contribution. I have been with them many times, particularly in Northern Ireland, when they have had a dramatic impact….I believe that at the end of the day the choir’s involvement will be recognised as a contribution that will have been important in bringing people together. Their music can inspire and encourage people to lift their eyes above the mundane and see what can be achieved. Some people need a vision of what can be done and the choir can bring people together to achieve that vision.”
There was quiet satisfaction within the choir when in November 2007, at a news conference in London, Sein Fein leader Gerry Adams publicly stated that the IRA attack on Warrington had indeed been the turning point in the Troubles. And again when, earlier this year, as the choir marked the tenth anniversary of the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in partnership with the Irish Peace Institute with special concerts in Belfast and Dublin, a personal letter of endorsement was received from former U.S. President Bill Clinton.
In recent years the choir has broadened its activities to include raising awareness of the United Nations International Day of Peace, held annually on 21st September, in support of the Peace One Day initiative created by British filmmaker, Jeremy Gilley. The vision of the Day extends beyond the cessation of violent conflict and represents an opportunity for individuals and nations to join in a moment of global unity. Its promotion is a natural next step for the Warrington Choir.