Recalling the first republican GB bomb of the Troubles: ‘They killed my mum – and just what did it achieve?’

Emotional tributes have been paid to the seven people murdered in the first republican massacre of the Troubles to be carried out in Great Britain.
By Adam Kula
Published 22nd Feb 2022, 20:55 BST
Wreaths are laid at a memorial to mark the bombing of the HQ 16th Independent Parachute Brigade Officers' Mess after it was unveiled at Aldershot Barracks, Hampshire, marking the 50th anniversary of the bombing which claimed the lives of seven people on February 22 1972. INSET: Mr Bosley.Wreaths are laid at a memorial to mark the bombing of the HQ 16th Independent Parachute Brigade Officers' Mess after it was unveiled at Aldershot Barracks, Hampshire, marking the 50th anniversary of the bombing which claimed the lives of seven people on February 22 1972. INSET: Mr Bosley.
Wreaths are laid at a memorial to mark the bombing of the HQ 16th Independent Parachute Brigade Officers' Mess after it was unveiled at Aldershot Barracks, Hampshire, marking the 50th anniversary of the bombing which claimed the lives of seven people on February 22 1972. INSET: Mr Bosley.

Among those attending a service to mark the bloodbath today was Brian Bosley, who lost his mother Thelma, a 44-year-old cleaner, when the Official IRA detonated a bomb at Hampshire’s Aldershot military barracks exactly 50 years ago today.

In a poignant reflection on the futility of the atrocity, he said to a reporter from the PA news agency: “I feel sad for the people lost here: five women, a gardener and a Catholic priest... what was achieved?”

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Republicans had carried out attacks on the British mainland as long ago as the mid-19th century, but the Aldershot bombing was the first one during the Troubles.

It was also among of the last atrocities carried out by the Official IRA, which had split from the more prolifically-violent Provisional IRA in late 1969; the OIRA’s campaign was wound down from May 1972 onwards.

Mr Bosley, from Featherstone in West Yorkshire, laid a wreath in memory of his mother, saying: “It was 50 years ago but it still hurts... one minute she was talking and the next minute she wasn’t talking.”

Grace Donnelly from Liverpool lost her best friend, Margaret Grant.

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She said: “They went there to do their job and then this awful thing happened.

“It’s very emotional, she left three little boys behind... we had to tell the young boys. It was a terrible time.

“I will never forget it – it was as if it was last week.”

A heptagonal memorial plinth was unveiled to the victims (the other five being John Haslar, Jill Mansfield, Cherie Munton, Joan Lunn, and Father Gerard Weston MBE).

Afterwards, a parade and march was held along Aldershot’s Queen’s Avenue.

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An Army spokesman said today: “At 12.15 on February 22, 1972, the garrison town of Aldershot was rocked by a massive explosion as a Ford Cortina packed full of explosives detonated outside the 16th Parachute Brigade Officers’ Mess.

“It had been intended to kill and maim officers of the Parachute Regiment and Airborne Forces whilst they were at lunch, but it is thought to have gone off prematurely...

“The following day, an announcement from the OIRA in Dublin stated that this was in retaliation for the events that took place in Derry on January 30 that would later become known as ‘Bloody Sunday’.

“It was to be the first atrocity committed on the UK mainland as a result of the Northern Ireland Troubles.”

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Kenny Donaldson of the victims’ group the South East Fermanagh Foundation, said: “The attack was rightly condemned on both sides of the Irish Sea; the victims were wholly innocent and were in the main working-class women trying their best to provide for their families.

“The Official IRA then declared a permanent ceasefire in May 1972 but sadly were followed by The Provisional IRA who continued their bombing campaign upon military and civilian targets across England for another quarter of a century.”

More from this reporter:

Click here – The last Last Post: Remembering the final soldier killed by the PIRA a quarter-century on... 23-year-old Lance Bombardier Stephen Restorick

Click here – Remembering barracks bloodbath that was among the last violent spasms of the Official IRA – exactly half-a-century later

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Click here – Belfast university culture spat: ‘No-one is convinced by efforts to portray the Irish language as cross-community’

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