A PATCHWORK quilt honouring each of the 62 children killed during the Troubles was the centrepiece of a poignant ceremony of remembrance yesterday.
Generations of families who lost loved ones attended the 'Patchwork of Innocents' event at Fivemiletown Methodist Church, including the mother of a schoolboy killed in the Omagh bombing who was visiting Ireland for the first time since his death.
Donna Maria Barker had vowed never to return after James (12) lost his life in the August 1998 atrocity but said she felt she had to go for her son.
He had been in the Co Tyrone town with Spanish friends, who were on an exchange visit, when the Real IRA bomb exploded.
Soon after his death, Ms Barker, who is originally from Derry, returned to Surrey where they had lived prior to the attack.
"It will be painful to come back," she told the News Letter.
"Yes, very painful. But it is for James, isn't it?"
Ms Barker also said that despite the passage of time, her grief remains and that she 'hated' those who had murdered her son.
"My life is gone... I can't go forward. He was my son, I carried him for nine months".
Organised by victims organisation, the South East Fermanagh Foundation, the annual event was also attended by relatives of one of the youngest victims, five-month-old Alan Jack from Strabane.
The baby boy was killed after an IRA bomb exploded in the town in July, 1972. His mother, Barbara, was wheeling his pram and being moved along by police when a shard of glass hit him. No photograph exists of the infant and both his parents have passed away.
Kenny Donaldson, director of the Foundation, said they were "honoured" to host the Barker family and many other families.
He said the memorial quilt included 62 patches dedicated to "individual innocents murdered through terrorism - Protestant, Roman Catholic and Dissenter and which contains a special central tribute to children murdered through terrorism".
