Bloody Sunday 50th anniversary events in Derry January 2022

The Families’ Walk from the Creggan Shops is one of many poignant events taking place on Sunday, January 30 - the anniversary of the massacre that claimed the lives of 14 men and boys, and left dozens of other local people wounded - as part of a special ‘One World, One Struggle’ programme to mark the milestone anniversary developed by the Bloody Sunday Trust.

The Memorial Service and wreath laying ceremony will follow at the Bloody Sunday Monument at 11am on Sunday.

Also on Sunday at 12.30pm there will be a special event at the Lecky Road Monument opposite the Gasyard Centre to mark the 50th Anniversary of Fian Gerald Donaghey, organised by the Bogside and Brandywell Monument Committee.

At 4pm in Guildhall Square ‘Beyond The Silence’ will be a special public event to mark the 50th anniversary, paying tribute to the victims of Bloody Sunday.

Sunday night will also see the Playhouse premiere The White Handkerchief at the Guildhall at 8pm. The new production is an ‘elegy’ to those who died on Bloody Sunday.

Prior to this, the annual Bloody Sunday Anniversary Mass will be held at St Mary’s Church, Creggan on Friday, January 28 at 7:30pm. All are welcome depending on restrictions in place at the time.

On the same day, a new exhibition, Silenced Bells For Derry will be installed at the Museum of Free Derry as an artistic tribute to the fourteen people who died.

The ‘One World, One Struggle’ programme commences this coming Monday, January 24 with the launch of the The Remembering Quilt at Rath Mór Centre. This project is being run by Relatives for Justice (RFJ) in which families bereaved as a result of the conflict in Ireland make a nine inch square in memory of their loved one which is then completed into an 8ftx8ft quilted panel consisting of 49 squares. The quilts which will be on display until January 31.

Another deeply moving exhibition, In Their Footsteps, will open on Tuesday 25th at Cultúrlann Uí Chanáin. It features shoes donated by bereaved families from across Ireland. It includes shoes from various campaigns including the Ballymurphy Massacre, McGurk’s bar and victims of the Glenanne Gang. Open daily from 1- 5pm to Saturday January 29.

Darach MacDonald’s new poetic examination of Partition and the effect of the border will be launched at the same venue, also on Tuesday at 7pm.

At 7.30pm on Tuesday there will be an online Palestinian Human Rights discussion with Catherine Hutton of the local Derry Palestinian Solidarity Committee and two of six human rights NGOs who have faced recent criminalisation.

Wednesday 26th will feature an online event, Pinochet + Amnesty at 7:30pm with the Bloody Sunday Trust and Pat Finucane Centre providing a platform for families to make their voices heard in light of recent British Government proposals. Victims of the Omagh bombing, the Glenanne Gang, the Springhill Massacre, the Shankill bombing and Bloody Sunday will take part. Part Two takes place on Friday, 28 January at 1pm, with Susan McKay in conversation with former Lt Colonel, now Reverend Nicholas Mercer.

Friday will also see an online event focused on ‘Racism and the Far Right in Ireland Today’ with a discussion featuring Shane O’Curry, the Director of the Irish Network Against Racism (INAR) and others on the dangers posed by far right groups in Ireland.

On Saturday 29th the Nerve Centre will host the screening of ‘Ultraviolence’ at 12pm, while at 1pm Cultúrlann Uí Chanáin will host ‘From Civil Rights To Language Rights’ featuring personal accounts of Bloody Sunday – from recollections of the day itself and how it impacted on the city, to later Irish language developments. This will be an online discussion in Irish with simultaneous translation into English.Other screenings at the Nerve Centre include ‘Love Yourself Today’ at 2pm on Saturday 29 and ‘Beyond the Barricades’ at 4pm the same day.

The annual Bloody Sunday lecture on Saturday 29 at the Guildhall at 3pm will be delivered by former Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn.

There will also be a number of music events taking place. For full details see the website www.bloodysunday50.com/events/READ MORE: www.derryjournal.com/news/politics/jeremy-corbyn-to-deliver-bloody-sunday-memorial-lecture-3527431