Remembering the Children

13 March 1996 - I was sitting at work when my phone rang. It was my dad, telling me that there had been a shooting at Dunblane Primary school, but I hadn't to worry about Rachel, my 5 year old niece, who was in P1 there, as she was off school sick. Today, we are still so thankful that she caught a cold and was kept home that morning. My brother thought that she should have gone, and my sister-in-law said no, she should stay in bed.

Anyway, as the full horror of that day unfolded, we later found out that 16 children in Rachel's class, died in the gym hall that morning, along with their teacher. I remember too, walking about in a daze, not believing that something so awful could happen in a small country town, to little 5 and 6 year old children. I still remember a phrase that the headmaster said on the tv intervew - "Evil visited us today, and we don't know why".

Many tears were shed for these little ones, and for the families concerned. The whole world knew of the murders, and cards and presents arrived for Rachel from complete strangers from different parts of the world. She suffered too though, as she had to be told that many of her friends had died and counselling was needed to help her through the days and weeks ahead.

I placed 17 snowdrops in a vase this afternoon and I remembered these sixteen beautiful children and their teacher. Snowdrops were the only flowers in bloom when it happened 15 years ago and afterwards The Snowdrop Appeal was set up to campaign for tighter gun control which eventually was disbanded after the government announced measures to ban hand guns.