Conversations Across the Walls

The inaugural conversation will take place in First Derry Church on the evening of Thursday, October 6, but the identity of the keynote speaker is being kept under wraps until closer to the event the identity of the high-profile speaker is not being revealed until October, “It is sufficient at this stage to acknowledge that the speaker is an undeniable VIP with credentials that will render this peace-building opportunity utterly irresistible for Catholics, Protestants, Nationalists, Unionists, Loyalists and Republicans,” said Dr Latimer, adding that St Mary’s College Choir and the Foyle & Londonderry College Jazz Band would be performing at the event.

“Following the Conversation, which will be chaired by BBC Presenter Dr William Crawley, the audience will be invited to the nearby Tower Hotel for refreshments and informal reaction,” Dr Latimer said.

“Given how most people are understandably married to the status quo and therefore more comfortable with ‘what is’ as opposed to ‘what can be’, I am viewing this new initiative at First Derry, which will continue into the Spring and Autumn of 2012 and beyond, as a vehicle that will envision both communities to go in a different way and to break new ground,” he said.

“A new day is breaking; this city is standing on a warmer threshold than ever before. The time has therefore come for both communities to genuinely listen to each other and to share space and time in each other’s company. When people do this they do not remain the same. They are changed and they are mutually enriched,” he said.

The aim is to promote better community relations.