‘A big day for the whole city’

He said the goodwill expressed by both communities to himself and his congregation, had been overwhelming. “Flowers gifted by both the Bluebell Boutique and the Whitehorse Hotel; limousines freely supplied by Adair & Neely and Martin McCrossan; complimentary overnight accommodation provided for guests at the Evergaldes Hotel; gifts of money and services generously donated by individuals and businessmen across the city and very significantly extensive press coverage of the entire weekend events in both the city’s Unionist and Nationalist newspapers, unquestionably this and much more is sufficient to convey to Derry’s oldest Presbyterian Church that there is widespread delight genuinely connected with the restoration of their church and in the long awaited return to their spiritual home in Upper Magazine Street,” he said.

“Clearly a new day is dawning across our city, which, interestingly opens up a door to the possibility of peaceful co-existence for our city’s two very different traditions. The words of the poem, We Saw A Vision, inscribed in Dublin’s Garden of Remembrance, and spoken last week by an Irish Army Officer during the Queen’s visit, are so powerfully appropriate for the people of Derry, Londonderry at this particular moment in our shared journey, “ In the darkness of despair, in the desert of discouragement, in the winter of bondage, we saw a vision …the snow melted…and the vision became a reality…winter became summer, bondage became freedom,” Rev Dr Latimer said.

“In Derry/Londonderry we desperately want to see the snow of enmity, mistrust, resentment and suspicion to melt; we long to see flowing the river of resurrection with its possibilities for new beginnings when Protestants, Roman Catholics, Unionists, Nationalists, Loyalists and Republicans will begin to live together well as friends and neighbours. In the past we have, in a variety of ways, hurt each other. Nobel Lauriat John Hume rightly pointed out on numerous occasions how we were all part of the problem. Her Majesty, the Queen so eloquently reminded us during her groundbreaking visit to the Irish Republic, of the need to bow to the past, but not to be bound by the past.

“Historical hindsight not only reveals where mistakes have been made by all of us; it moreover shows how things could have been done better by each of us. Somehow we must attempt to move forward together and despite our cultural, political and religious differences, which will always pertain, we must learn to see each other as equals, as brothers and sisters within the same worldwide human family,” the Minister said, adding: “Furthermore, we must allow old hatreds to ease and we must progressively strive to co operate more with each other so that we can slowly begin to put into place the building blocks for the bright brand new day, which we desire for every citizen in the town we all love so well. We can do it…we must do it… and we must do it together and if we do, the outcome for all of us will be respect for our different traditions, good inter-communal relations and a better shared future.”