Immortalised in Phil Coulter’s love song to Derry, The Town I Loved So Well, the city’s gasyard has been transformed into a new museum tracing the development of the peace process.
Due to open on July 22, the museum is in the Bogside area of Derry which witnessed some of the key events of the Troubles including the Battle of the Bogside and Bloody Sunday.
It explores the period from August 1972 to May 2007 to explain how the conflict evolved into the peace process and the impact of both on the area.
Gasyard Trust Manager Linda McKinney described the process as “a labour of love”.
“Peacemakers’ will allow visitors from across the globe to learn our story,” she said.
Michael Cooper told The Irish News about the origins and intentions of The Peacemakers’ Museum.
Peacemakers’ highlights the roles played by the late John Hume, Nobel Peace laureate, and Martin McGuinness, former deputy first minister as well as Mitchel McLaughlin, a former Assembly speaker.
The contribution of women and young people is also celebrated, through exhibits on women’s rights, trade unionism, LGBTQ+ experiences, culture and sport.
Speaking to The Irish News, Michael Cooper, the museum’s strategy manager, said Peacemakers’ dealt with the origins of the conflict “going right back to the plantation”.
“We focus on how the conflict evolved post-Motorman, July 1972, through the hunger strikes, 1980 and 1981, into the Peace Process period,” said Mr Cooper.
“It is not telling the story of the peace process from every angle because unionism has its own story to tell. It is told from the local, Bogside perspective.
“The three key figures which run through it, John Hume, Martin McGuinness and Mitchel McLaughlin, are local men, key figures in the negotiations and the entire conflict period.
“In addition, as visitors walk around the museum, they will see biographies of local female activists, including Brigid Bond, Roisin Barton, Nell McCafferty and Pat Hume, as well as people like Bernadette Devlin, who spent a lot of time in Derry, in the early days especially.
“The exhibition comprises chronological sections, in five year chunks, which explain any political initiatives being attempted to resolve the conflict.”
Titled False Dawns, the opening Peacemakers’ section deals with the Sunningdale Agreement, 1974, and the 1975 IRA Ceasefire. It finishes with the signing of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement and its aftermath.
“There are a whole range of photos, from Willie Carson’s family, The Journal and An Phoblacht Republican News. Gérard Harlay, a French photographer, gave us about 500,” Mr Cooper added.
“Peacemakers’ also explains what happened to Stephen McConomy (11), Thomas Friel (21), Paul Whitters (15) and Henry Duffy (44), in terms of local victims.
“It also deals with the secret contacts between the IRA and the British in the early 1980s, with original transcripts, with local men, Noel Gallagher, Brendan Duddy and Denis Bradley.”
Full details on The Peacemakers’ Museum can be found at: www.peacemakersmuseumderry.com, Facebook: Peacemakers Museum, X/Twitter: @peacemkrsderry, and Instagram: @peacemakersderry.
