Repairs to Claudy bombing memorial ahead of 50th anniversary

The Claudy bombing occurred when three car bombs exploded on the morning of July 31, 1972 – two on Main Street and one on Church Street in the village. The attack killed nine civilians and injured 30 others.

The memorial, a bronze figure of a kneeling girl mounted on a stone plinth created by sculptor Elizabeth McLaughlin, has been in place in the council owned Main Street car park since 2000 and is now in need of repair.

A report for members of the Business and Culture Committee noted that ‘Council has met with the families in February to agree the way forward.’

The report explained that ‘in 2015 the responsibility for off street car parking at 31 car parks was transferred to local councils including a car park in the centre of Claudy. Since that time Council has been working with DfI to establish the exact title for each car park.

‘As part of this work it became apparent that Council now owned and was responsible for the memorial to the Claudy bomb victims. This only became clear towards the end of 2021,’ elected representatives were informed.

At a meeting in November last year, Council officers engaged with the families to discuss the future of the memorial. It was estimated that around £12,500 would need to be spent on the memorial to repair and improve the existing structure which would have been covered from Council’s car park maintenance budget.

At this meeting some family members made known their wish to redesign the space surrounding the current memorial. Council staff explained that this ‘would have been a separate budget from a maintenance budget, it would take considerable time possibly requiring planning to complete a proper redesign and could not be achieved before the 50th anniversary in July’.

It was agreed at a subsequent meeting that the families wanted a redesign of the space. The families were also conscious of the need to be responsible with public funding and did not want to incur expenditure on repairs on the memorial if it was subsequently going to be redesigned.

Hence a decision was taken for the families to continue with their plan to repair the memorial at their own cost and at the same time work with Council regarding the redesign project.

Council officers met again with the families in February and it was confirmed that the repairs would be carried out by a contractor appointed by the families. 

Work regarding the electrical lighting has already been carried out by council and further cleaning etc would continue to ensure that the memorial is in good order for the anniversary in July.

Council officers will work up a design in-house to redesign the space as there is a requirement for a more quiet contemplative space. It is estimated that this will take up to two months.

Gillian Anderson

Local Democracy Reporter