2010 is probably the most important year we’ve faced as a Society, as it saw the 40th anniversary of the murders of Jimmy McCurrie and Bobby Neill. From mid 2009 we had begun to make plans as to how we should remember the murders.

Admittedly it was a hard task working out what was the best way to mark this poignant date. We wanted to build on our annual memorial parade, but didn’t want to move too far away from the theme of remembrance, so we decided on two events which would mark the past and the future of east Belfast. One was night were the victims could talk about what they witnessed in 1970, which would remember our past, and a debate which would demonstrate how far we have come as a community.

The first of these events was the debate in Westbourne Presbyterian Church, a building which stands just yards away from where both Jimmy and Bobby were murdered. We invited along a panel of people who had either a connection to that night, or had a good knowledge of what happened. The panel was made up of Alan Murray, Sir Reg Empey, Catherine McCartney, Mike Nesbitt and Liam Clarke. The majority of the audience had witnessed the events of the 27th June 1970 which made it a very interesting night.

There hasn’t been a lot of debates like these in east Belfast so hopefully this will open the doors for more as we all felt it had been a good way for people to express their feelings on our past.

The following week we held a night were people who had witnessed the events of 27th June 1970 came together to talk about what they saw and how it affected them. Personally I felt this was the most important event as many of the people there hadn’t talked openly about what they had witnessed since that night in 1970. It was also fascinating for the younger people in the audience to hear these firsthand accounts. But the night was also tinged with sadness, as it was clear that the emotion and the grief hadn’t lessened any for the families of Jimmy and Bobby in the forty years since their murders.

The following Friday night saw our annual memorial parade take place. This year saw an increase in the size of the parade, as we invited bands from across Northern Ireland to join with us in remembering Jimmy and Bobby as well as those murdered in west Belfast on the same weekend.

Before the parade we held the remembrance service at the memorial garden. A large crowd gathered around the garden to take part in the service. The Reverend Mervyn Gibson lead the proceedings and it was nice to see our community come together at the garden, demonstrating that even after forty years, the community still supports the McCurrie and Neill families in their continuing fight for truth and justice.

As a Society we are delighted at how these events passed off. It was fantastic to see our community coming together over the three weeks and we would like to thank everyone who came out to support the families in their quest for truth and justice.

Below you can see a few photographs taken from the latest parade (2010) which shows some of the bands with wreaths, supporters laying wreaths in the memorial garden for the victims of the Murder in Ballymacarrett story.