Jo Berry Peace and Forgiveness Talk

This Christmas term, Jo Berry, a British peace activist, gave a talk pupils and parents at St Georges College, Weybridge. Jo Berry gives talks globally about forgiveness and love, yet she has not always been a speaker. This vocation to share her inspiring story happened years after the devastating incident which killed her father. After her visit, I followed up with Jo as I wanted to share her story, and its ongoing relevance today. 

It was 1984, and the heat of the tensions with Ireland were peaking. Jo Berry’s father was Sir Anthony Berry, a Conservative MP, who was attending the Tory Party Conference at the Grand Hotel Brighton, on the 12th October. Unknown at the time of the conference, a group of IRA fighters planted a bomb in the hotel, which would set off and kill Sir Anthony Berry. At the time, Jo Berry was 27 and about to go travelling. She was massively shocked and devastated, and immediately abandoned her plans.

‘Within two days of him being killed, I realised I hadn't just lost my father, who I was very close to, but I also felt I was catapulted into a war, into a conflict, and I couldn't go back to being the person I had been any more. Part of me died in that bomb.’

A few days later, she went to St James’ Church in London, and made a commitment; to find a way to bring positivity to the situation, and with that, she would be able to cope. But it was three months later, in London, when her path of forgiveness would really change. By sheer chance, she shared a taxi with a Northern Irish man, and shared her story with him.  As it turned out, his brother was in the IRA and was killed by a British soldier. They should have hated each other, been enemies, yet, they shared a mutual hope for peace in the future. This chance encounter shaped her life; Jo felt that, ‘as I left that taxi, the word came to me, I can build a bridge across the divide, and it's something that I can do. A seed was sown.’

A year later, in 1985, she travelled to Belfast to hear more stories of the “troubles” and gain an understanding of the other side. Although she felt scared, she understood the importance of listening and sharing experiences.

However, it wasn’t until the Good Friday Agreement that Jo Berry’s life changed once again. Patrick Magee, the man who planted the bomb that killed her father, was released from prison in 1999 after serving 14 years. Despite her previous journey of forgiveness, she felt anger that he was free, and her father wasn’t. However, she understood this was part of the peace process, which she welcomed.

In 2000, she travelled to Ireland multiple times, took part in victim survivors groups and met people involved in the conflict and she finally had the opportunity to meet in Dublin with Patrick Magee.

‘I was terrified, I was so scared…I had no idea how I was going to be. Would he turn up? What would he say?’

Despite the political differences, she began to see his sensitivity and human nature. He stopped justifying his causes and asked to hear her story, her pain, her emotions. This took her on a new journey. He had taken off the ‘political hat’ and they both were vulnerable and open, together. They met many times to talk and understand the other side.

After 13 years, in 2009, Jo Berry founded ‘Building Bridges for Peace’, a non-profit organisation promoting peace and conflict resolution throughout the world. Magee and Berry now have done hundreds of talks about their story and how they came to reconcile with one another. They’ve spoken in the Northern Ireland, Rwanda, Lebanon, Israel and Palestine, to help those affected by conflict, to channel their ‘pain into passion for peace’.

During the lead up to Christmas, the message Jo Berry sends becomes increasingly relevant. With emphasis on peace and goodwill in the month of December, perhaps we can all learn to forgive and love a bit more than we do? With charities focusing on giving this Christmas, it is important we take Jo Berry and Patrick Magee’s story of compassion and reconciliation this December and learn to create positivity from an unlikely situation. Moreover, the message of giving to areas of conflict and war are paramount and the awareness from the Building Bridges for Peace Organisation is at the heart of this.