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IRA victim's grandaughter wants memorial visit

By Stephanie Cockroft
January 31, 2012

THE grandaughter of a woman who was killed 40 years ago in Aldershot’s IRA bombings has called for a memorial plaque to the victims to be given the reverence it deserves.

Lauren Bosley’s grandmother Thelma died after a car bomb exploded outside the officers’ mess at the 16th Parachute Brigade headquarters in February 1972.

The 29-year-old from Alder-shot says she is frustrated by not being able to visit the memorial, which was installed at the site of the former mess.

The plaque, in the former Montgomery Lines barracks in Aldershot, is now blocked off to the public as it is on land being used for development under the Aldershot Urban Exten-sion. An MoD spokesman said it would be unsafe to allow public access onto what is effectively a demolition site.

The spokesman said arrangements had instead been made for the site to be opened on the 40th anniversary of the event.

But Lauren, a mechanical and electrical engineer, said she and others want to pay tribute to the bomb victims all the year round.

“It is not enough for it to just be opened on an anniversary,” she said.

“I want somewhere where I can go and see the memorial, or lay flowers, or just pay my respects to the grandmother that I never met. That is what a memorial should be for.”

Rushmoor Borough Council has come under fire from some relatives, including Lauren, for not installing a permanent memorial.

However, chief executive Andrew Lloyd said the memorial will not be moved as the site will reopen permanently at some point.

The site, which is due to be transferred to the council as part of the extension, is now controlled by defence estates developer Grainger, which gives the council little say over access to the plaque, he said.

He said Grainger had shown ‘enormous commitment’ to maintaining the memorial and making sure that access to it is appropriate.

“The site will be incorporated in the new AUE development and will be protected,” he vowed. “It will then be maintained and looked after by the council, and will then be open and accessible at all times.

“I can’t yet be certain when, but it will probably be within the next two years.”

The IRA bombing was carried out as a reprisal for Bloody Sunday, where paratroopers in Londonderry open-ed fire during a civil rights march, killing 13 people. It was the first in a series of bomb attacks by the IRA on army targets. Of the seven people who died, five, including Lauren’s grandmother, were female kitchen staff.

An MoD spokesman said: “The seat of the bombing was located within the Montgomery Lines military complex and it subsequently became a secure area which couldn’t allow public access. Today, the former Montgomery Lines lie redundant awaiting disposal and regeneration under the Aldershot Urban Development project.

“As a matter of public safety we would not wish to allow unescorted public access to what is, effectively, a demolition site.”

Lauren said: “We have been told it will be open in the future, but no-one is telling us when. We will not let this lie until we are able to go to that memorial. That is all we have been asking for, for many years, which I don’t think is too much to ask.”

Mr Lloyd said a wreath-laying ceremony will take place on Wednesday, February 22, to commemorate the anniversary of the atrocity.

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