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Bombscare in Enniskillen

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William Crawley | 16:24 UK time, Sunday, 11 November 2007

enniskilmemorial.jpgToday's programme didn't exactly run according to plan.

We had intended to broadcast a live special edition from the Clinton Centre in Enniskillen -- built on the site of the old reading rooms where the infamous poppy day bomb had been planted -- with the 830am opening of the programme coming from the cenotaph itself in Belmore Street. I was to stand at the War Memorial accompanied by David Cupples and Selwyn Johnston and we would begin the programme by talking about their memories of Remembrance Day 1987 when twelve people lost their lives.

Our team (myself, Martin O'Brien, producer, and Martin McCullough and Michael Harte, sound engineers) stayed overnight at the Railway Hotel, where ´óÏó´«Ã½ reporters and correspondents were based in the days following the 1987 explosion. At 7.45am on Sunday, we arrived at the end of Belmore Street to be met by police. We were not able to enter the area; it had been secured and they were waiting for a team of sniffer dogs. We called the ´óÏó´«Ã½ newsroom to learn that a coded bomb warning had been phoned in during the night. A police constable spoke to Selwyn, and explained that he could not enter the street because it was dangerous: "If there is a bomb here somewhere and it explodes, there will be glass travelling everywhere." Selwyn had been present when the 1987 bomb exploded. He was then just 17 years old and was to have placed a wreath on behalf of his Boys' Brigade company. He never did get to lay that wreath. Standing at the end of Belmore Street this morning, twenty years on, he was holding the wreath in his hands.

Martin and I made a few phonecalls to Bert Tosh, who was in the news studio in Belfast, and an alternative plan was quickly conceived. Kim Lenahan agreed to run her music programme until 9.00am, and Bert then went on-air to explain to the audience what was happening. He interviewed me by telephone, and I described the situation in Enniskillen for our listeners.

Then, as Bert cued in a shortened form of Morning Service and a few other items, I stood with our team and our local guests, who were now gathering, in a carpark across the road from the security operation. We watched police dog-handlers lead sniffer dogs through the area and we chatted about the surrealness of what was happening. "Deja vu", someone said. The all-clear came at about 9.30am, and we made our way to the temporary studio that had been built the night before by our sound engineers.

We were on-air at 9.45am, thanks to two very focused sound engineers, Martin and Michael, who had to construct an aerial in situ. We were broadcasting live from two locations: the War Memorial site itself, and the Erne Room in the Clinton Centre. Standing at the cenotaph, I interviewed David Cupples, the Presbyterian minister who officiated at the funerals of six of the victims, and Selwyn Johnston, who was still carrying his poppy wreath. They gave their reaction to the day's developments then spoke movingly about their hopes for the future of Fermanagh's county town. Then, while a report on the Spirit of Enniskillen project was playing, I made a quick dash into the Clinton Centre, where our panel of guests were seated and ready for the main discussion.

I was delighted that we had managed, against some odds, to deliver the live broadcast from the cenotaph on the day. That wouldn't have been possible without a lot of people working very speedily in both Belfast and Enniskillen. By the end of the day, our team and our ten local guests had bonded terrifically well, and minutes after we were off-air, we were all gathered round a table for coffee and scones. I don't think any of us will ever forget the day Sunday Sequence was broadcast live from Enniskillen.

Comments

  • 1.
  • At 03:40 PM on 12 Nov 2007,
  • wrote:

So that saying 'the show must go on' is true.

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