Birmingham Cathedral Remembers the Pub Bombings of 1974

Birmingham Cathedral will mark the anniversary of the Birmingham Pub Bombings with an afternoon of reflection and prayer.

Birmingham Pub Bombings Memorial Service – Friday 21st November

The event, which takes place on Friday (21 November), will see a bespoke bound copy of the specially commissioned commemoration book ‘Remembrance and Reflection – The Birmingham Pub Bombings’ gifted to the cathedral.

This commemoration book, written by Maggie Fogarty and Enda Mullen, was originally produced as a limited edition hardback to mark the 50th anniversary of the 1974 Birmingham Bombings in 2024.

It features testimonies from survivors, bereaved families and members of the local Irish community who suffered a backlash at the time, trauma experts and others impacted by the bombings.

After the book handover there will be time for reflection led by Birmingham’s Canon Missioner, the Reverend Canon Andy Delmege, Maureen Slattery-Marsh from the Birmingham Spiritual Direction Forum and the Revd Elaine Hutchinson.

There will be poems and readings and the session is designed to give people space to pray and think through the spiritual challenges following terror attacks.

Joe Cook, a Birmingham spoken word artist and musician was commissioned by the Birmingham Irish Association and Julie Hambleton of the Justice 4 the 21 campaign, to write a poem ‘Our 21 Loved Ones’ about the pub bombings.

Louisa and James McGuinness, whose grandfather was the press photographer M J Niels McGuinness who took the main photographs documenting the terror attack on the night of 21st November 1974, will also share their testimonies.

James is following in the footsteps of his grandfather as a trainee photographer and will show the original Pentax camera Niels used to take his photographs while his sister Louisa will talk about the devastating impact the bombings had on their grandfather Niels.

This specially bound copy has been commissioned by Maggie Fogarty and produced by bookbinder Arthur Green. A second paperback/e-book version of the commemoration book, featuring additional stories and testimonies, will be published on the same day with writer proceeds going towards future commemoration events.