'We Focused So Much On Turning Something Bad Into Something Good' – Remembering Tim Parry

20 March 1993 was derby day on Merseyside.

But football took a backseat on the news agenda that fateful afternoon, as one of the worst IRA atrocities of the conflict known as The Troubles was perpetrated in Warrington town centre.

Two hours and 35 minutes before the Anfield showdown kicked off, 12-year-old Tim Parry was on Bridge Street to buy a pair of Neville Southall Everton shorts and a Mother's Day Card.

He never came home.

An IRA bomb placed in litter bins on Bridge Street killed Colin and Wendy Parry's son Tim, two-year-old Johnathan Ball – and injured 54 others.

Tim never got to wear his Everton shorts – but his name still became synonymous with Everton Football Club.

On the 25th anniversary of the bombing, in a moving speech to his son at a commemoration service on Bridge Street, father Colin asked: "Would you have brought up your son or sons or daughters to have the passion you shared with Dom, with me, with your Grandad Eric, for Everton Football Club? And would you smile to know that Everton made a trophy, the ‘Tim Parry Trophy’, which Dom and I present every year at Goodison to the best player in the Everton Cup final? I know so!"

Then three years ago, on the 30th anniversary of the bombing, Colin said: "I often wonder what he (Tim) would have become. I could have seen him in the Royal Navy, maybe he would even have played for Everton, they need him badly enough."

Everton was Colin and Tim's big love. Colin took his son to Goodison Park from the age of four. "I have photos of Tim and Dom with the Everton stars, taken at the training ground when we went to watch them one day," he said.

A lifelong Evertonian, Colin was a guest of the Club at Hill Dickinson Stadium for the recent visit of Leeds United – even if his wish for a "1-0 win, even if it's a lousy game," didn't quite come true what ended 1-1.

Now 78, Everton has been part of his life.

Tim Parry was murdered aged 12 in Warrington while out shopping in March 1993

"I was six when my dad first brought me in 1952," Colin explained. "We were in the old Second Division. I can't remember who we played or what the score was, I just remember being six and being wide eyed about the whole thing.

"When I was 11 we moved to live opposite Walton prison, my dad was a prison officer, and several of the boys on the estate were Blues so we used to walk up Stuart Road to the match. And walk home afterwards.

"For many years that's how it was.

"My first hero was Davey Hickson, then in the ‘60s it was Alex Young. I also liked Jimmy Gabriel and remember bumping into him outside the ground one day. He was surprisingly chatty!

"That was my era the ‘60s team. I watched them beat Sheffield Wednesday, and went to the West Brom final – which we lost. Funnily enough my dad was living in Birmingham at the time so that wasn't a great journey back.

"I went to university when I was 18, in Swansea, so I used to go and watch them, but I still retained my love of the Blues.

"Circumstances meant I didn't go as often, then obviously in 1993 life changed.

"My son Dom was kind of interested, but Tim was really into it big time. When we lost him the Club were very good.

"There wasn't anything they could actually do but they reached out which was greatly appreciated.

"I got to meet Bill Kenwright a few times and various chairmen, including Philip Carter, and a few of the players, including Duncan Ferguson.”

Ultimately there was a positive legacy to the day the Parrys lost Tim.

The murder of Colin's son and Johnathan Ball, two innocent children, is believed to have hastened the peace process in Northern Ireland and led, five years later, to the Good Friday Agreement.

While just two years later, in 1995, Colin and wife Wendy created the Tim Parry Johnathan Ball Foundation.

The Foundation has helped and supported those affected by conflict, so they are able to use their experience in a positive way to help prevent violence in their communities and beyond.

It remains the only UK organisation which supports victims and survivors of political violence, conflict and acts of terror.

It does so through the provision of learning, exploring the causes and effects of conflict and its resolution through non-violent means.

"We focused so much on turning something bad into something good, and I think we've done it reasonably well, we're still here and we have a purpose in life," Colin told the BBC in a recent interview.

"A town without any military significance shouldn't have been targeted.

"Why Warrington? And why a shopping street? Why the day before Mother's Day? All these strange questions which lead me to the view that it was a cynical, deliberate choice by the IRA to hit a soft target and they must have known there would be children likely to be injured or possibly killed through those two bombs."

He added: "They've never been caught, we'll never know who they are, not that it matters any more.

"It matters more to me the positive things that have come along that we carry on doing for as long as we can."

In that address to his son, on the 25th anniversary of the bombing, Colin added: "Seven years after we lost you, we opened a unique building named after you and Johnathan. It is a Peace Centre. No, it is THE Peace Centre. It is the only Peace Centre in this country and, so far as we know, it is the ONLY Peace Centre anywhere in the whole world, and it is your Peace Centre Tim. It is a living memorial to you Tim and to Johnathan.

"Many good people supported us after we lost you Tim, and they gave us the strength to set up our charity in your name.

"Many good people help us today and every day, to keep your charity and your Peace Centre going.

"Many thousands of people have been helped by your charity Tim. Their lives have been made better and safer thanks to you, and we do it all in your name."

Colin and Wendy’s foundation evolved to help British and British-based citizens who are victims or survivors of terrorism in this country or overseas, including those from 9/11 and the Manchester Arena bombing.

In 2000, the seventh anniversary of the bombing, the 'Tim Parry Johnathan Ball Peace Centre' was opened.

A £3.3million building raised with support from various organisations and individuals, it became a versatile facility, featuring a games area, sports hall, residential quarters, dining room, conference rooms, and offices.

After 20 years use, following the closure of the Centre’s residential facilities in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a review of the Foundation’s use of the Centre was conducted.

As a result of this review, an agreement was reached to sell the Peace Centre to Warrington Town Council.

In March 2025, the Foundation became a grant-making organisation and the Peace Centre was converted into a sixth-form college for young people with special educational needs – a dedicated modern facility for post-16 and post-19 students.

While Colin and Wendy were sad to leave the Peace Centre, the pair have applauded Warrington Borough Council’s plans to adapt it into a specialist centre helping young people with SEN requirements.

The foundation relied on income from grants and donations to fund its projects across the UK.

Now, it will provide grants of up to £10,000 to small and medium-sized charities to support projects which tackle violent behaviour and social issues.

This will include organisations working with women and young girls, promoting non-violence in education, supporting victims of terror and delivering projects to reduce violence.

In 2004, Colin was awarded the OBE and Wendy received the same honour in 2013 for their peace efforts.

After having survived bowel cancer and a quadruple bypass, Colin, now 78, says he’s planning to take a step back from his charity work. “I want to survive a few more years. I don’t want to be doing this till the day I drop,” he added.

“It was kind of a channel for me, I found it helped me a lot to talk about what we were going through and what we’re doing to help make things better.”

And stepping back will give him a little more time to follow his beloved Blues.

"The Club has always been part of my life," added Colin.

It always will be.