Bill Clinton: Thank you for welcoming me back to a city I love

He told an audience in the Guildhall how the late John Hume and David Trimble were thinking of the present generation of young people when they signed the Good Friday Agreement in April 1998.

Mr. Clinton also paid tribute to Lyra McKee who was shot dead in Creggan four years ago on Tuesday.

The ex-President who helped facilitate the Good Friday Agreement in 1998 was in Derry for an event to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the accord and honour the memory of John and Pat Hume and David Trimble.

At the ‘Making Hope and History Rhyme’ event organised by the John and Pat Hume Foundation, Mr. Clinton was introduced by Rachel Hume, who delivered a moving reflection on her grandfather John.

She stated: “You are still the biggest presence in the room, the person we talked about most when we are together, in our conversations that went round and round in circles, many times the dementia patient ended up seeming like he made the most sense.

“You always had a talent for bringing people round to your way of thinking. Because of you an entire nation gets to live a happier more hopeful reality. Because of you my generation enjoy peace and security we often taken for granted.”

Rachel confided that caring for John during the illness of his later years had been the greatest privilege of her life.

"We will miss the singing, we will miss the gentle smile. The thousands of questions. The Derry nursery rhymes.”

Mr. Clinton responded: “Rachel I loved your grandfather very much and your grandmother and I love what you said.”

Referring to a visit to Derry in 2014, he said: “It's hard to believe it's been nine years since John Hume and Pat and I walked across the Peace Bridge and met Martin McGuinness.

“I'm sorry that John and Pat aren't here. I'm sorry that David's not here. I'm sorry Seamus Mallon's not here. I'm sorry Martin McGuinness didn't live to see this day. Mark Durkan, I'm glad you are here and everybody else who has survived to this day.”

"Mayor [Sandra] Duffy, I thank you for welcoming me back to a city I love and this Guildhall which I love so much.”

Prior to his keynote address Ash front man Tim Wheeler dedicated a version of ‘Shining Light’ to Lyra.

RETRO PHOTO SPECIAL... Bill Clinton visits Derry

Mr. Clinton stated: "I want to thank particularly all of you for the dedication of the song to Lyra McKee on what would have been the fourth anniversary of her death.

"Her life was a testament to the unlimited potential of NI and potentially its rising generations and her death is a powerful reminder that there are few permanent victories in politics or life and if we believe something we need to be willing to stand for it as long as we draw breath.

"We owe it to her to choose in her words, ‘to say goodbye to bombs and to bullets once and for all’. This audience is made up mostly of people who were younger than Lyra. You will decide what to do with it.”

The 42nd US President told the young people present that the future of the country is in their hands.

“Most of you here were born after the GFA but it was your future that John Hume and David Trimble were thinking about. I promise, they were. We talked about it many times.

"They were thinking about those of you who weren’t there then. You have inherited the freedom to pursue your dreams instead of reliving your parents nightmares.

"You are talented, energetic, creative, more focused on what unites you and your neighbours than what divides you. You are the hope, not just of NI but of places divided all over the world.”

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David Trimble’s son Nicholas opened a poignant address by joking about how filial pride manifested itself at an early age in the playground boast ‘my da could beat up your da’.

He ended it by remarking how ‘my da helped stop everybody's da from fighting at all and I will never not be proud of that’.

Ellianna McBride from Foyle College and James Tourish from St. Columb’s College spoke of their hopes for the future.

James said: “Let us work together, not to find a unionist answer or a nationalist answer but the right answer to the issues we all face today in society.

"The future will not always be smooth and it certainly will not be without hardship but let us try for the youth and the future of this island. If we don't who will.”

Ellianna concurred: “I aspire to live in a country where we respect each other's traditions, provided these traditions are in turn carried out respectfully, and having achieved that level of mutual respect a country that strives to build a more outward-looking, liberal society that goes beyond orange and green.”

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Neil Hannon dedicated a version of his song ‘Sunrise’ – released shortly after the Omagh bomb – to Mo Mowlam.

Home-grown talent Roe performed a version of The Cranberries hit ‘Dreams’ with the Ulster University choir.

A reflection from Bono was played via video.

Bronagh Gallagher, who presided, recited a verse from ‘The Cure at Troy’, Seamus Heaney’s adaptation of Sophocles’ ‘Philoctetes’, which Mr. Clinton famously quoted in Guildhall Square in 1995.

The former President quipped he would have come to Derry just to hear Phil Coulter perform, ‘The Town I Loved So Well’.

The legendary songwriter obliged with a stirring rendition of a classic he said he had performed everywhere from ‘Carnegie Hall, to the Clinton White House, and in a duet version with John Hume in Kealy’s pub in Greencastle, and Hiudaí Beags’ in Bunbeg.

Mr. Clinton greeted the public before adjourning to the Taphouse for pints of stout.

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