Colin Parry on community cohesion

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WARRINGTON peace campaigner Colin Parry was speaker at a special “community cohesion” event at the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) in Burnley.
The event involved students from UCLan’s undergraduate programmes along with students from Pakistan’s University of Gujrat who joined in via the Centre for Volunteering and Community Leadership’s innovative new “live” on line classroom.
Introduced by UCLan lecturer Wajid Khan, Mr Parry, whose son Tim died in the 1993 Warrington bombings, spoke about the importance of developing community cohesion at a young age.
In his discussion about how The Tim Parry and Jonathan Ball Foundation for Peace came to be established he said: “In the early days the charity began with an annual visit between kids from Northern Ireland, Dublin and Warrington meeting and exchanging their views and ideas.
“It is a powerful thing to bring kids together who wouldn’t normally meet and give them the opportunity to discuss the problems that they face from a very young age.”
Both sets of students agreed with Mr Parry that citizenship, peace and understanding between different groups and cultures should be built into the education system at primary schools.
Mr Parry also talked about sectarianism and extremism and said these issues could be overcome through dialogue and understanding. He also discussed his personal motivation for peace in giving the group a heartfelt account of events leading up to the loss of his son.
Dr Alethea Melling MBE, director of the Centre for Volunteering and Community Leadership said sectarianism was a universal problem driven by fear and lack of understanding of the “other”.
She went on to say that education and dialogue were key to change, starting with small children and families, such as the Tiny Steps programme delivered by the Foundation for Peace.
Yasir Butt, UCLan Community Leadership student, pointed out that religious leaders also needed to take a leadership role in promoting dialogue for peace.
Dr Melling concluded by referring to Mahatma Gandhi’s famous statement “be the change you want to see in the world”, saying: “Colin Parry OBE epitomises that ideal.”
Picture: Colin Parry with UCLan staff and students.


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Experienced journalist for more than 40 years. Managing Director of magazine publishing group with three in-house titles and on-line daily newspaper for Warrington. Experienced writer, photographer, PR consultant and media expert having written for local, regional and national newspapers. Specialties: PR, media, social networking, photographer, networking, advertising, sales, media crisis management. Chair of Warrington Healthwatch Director Warrington Chamber of Commerce Patron Tim Parry Johnathan Ball Foundation for Peace. Trustee Warrington Disability Partnership. Former Chairman of Warrington Town FC.

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