Enniskillen Bomb victim Stephen Ross was recently reunited with Tommy Hallawell, one of the rescuers, who helped pull him from the rubble almost 27 years ago.

It marked the first time ever for the two Fermanagh men to meet following the explosion on Remembrance Sunday, November 8, 1987, when Stephen, now a Pensions Manager based in Windsor, was one of the most seriously injured. Eleven townspeople lost their lives that day and more than 60 were injured.

For Stephen, people like Tommy are ‘unsung’ heroes. He and fellow rescuers “had to see it all at first hand,” acknowledged the father of four.

He was speaking after he and Tommy - whom he learned around the 10th anniversary of the bomb was one of his rescuers - came face to face as part of the filming for a forthcoming BBC One Real Lives Reunited programme. He highlights the impact on people like Tommy, who dealt with the aftermath.

The pair caught up for the first time at Belfast City Airport. For Stephen, this was an opportunity to extend a proper appreciation to those involved. “It was like meeting up with an old friend,” felt Stephen, who described Tommy as an “affable, approachable person. A very humble sort of guy. It was good for me to be able to say thank you. I only regret I had not done so sooner.” For Tommy Hallawell, “words could not describe” how he felt on his recent meeting with Stephen, who at the time of the bomb was a student at Enniskillen High School.

Stephen sustained serious injuries to his face and head when masonry fell on him and his leg was badly broken. He had been lying under a slab of cement held up by a brick, when he was miraculously pulled from the rubble by his rescuers.

Stephen says he is appreciative of what Tommy amongst others did for him. “Tommy was one of a number of people who had helped me,” said the 42-year-old, who has made a good recovery. He is ‘keeping very well’ although he admits that he still lives with his injuries - experiencing ongoing issues with his left foot.

“It’s a small issue in comparison to the injuries and loss others who survived the bomb are continuing to live with,” believes Stephen.

And although he has moved on “You can’t unwind the past,” feels Stephen. He acknowledges and understands that many feel a sense of injustice but “I have moved on. Dwelling on the past will not unwind what has happened.” He puts the experiences in the context of his Christian faith and where he is going in the future. The young man, who likes to return to Fermanagh several times a year to catch up with family, admits the memories of the Enniskillen Remembrance Day Bomb remain ‘raw’. It is ‘one of those milestones that will never disappear,’ said Stephen, “whilst it’s not possible to forget this event my faith prevents natural thoughts and emotions from dictating my response to those responsible. It enables me to respect others who hold different views. It’s this respect the current generation, some of whom who will have no memory of 1987, need to consider for the future.” Speaking last week, Tommy Hallawell - one of a number of people to actively lend their support in the rescue - says that he has “very vivid memories” of the Enniskillen Bomb. “I remember it as if it was yesterday,” admits Tommy. On November 8, 1987, he recalls that on the way up he spoke to Ted Armstrong, and then at the cenotaph he spoke to his cousin Sammy Gault and his son Stephen Gault. Both Ted and Sammy lost their lives in the explosion. Tommy recollects that he ”moved away from Sammy over to O’Doherty’s side for a better view.” After the bomb went off, he said “I felt a tap on my shoulder, it was my son Thomas who was about 14 or 15 at the time. He said to me are you all right? I said Thomas that’s a bomb get away from here.” Everything was silent, according to Tommy, who then recalls the “screaming”. He said “where the Reading Rooms were was a pile of rubble from the bomb. Where Sammy and Stephen had been standing I could not see them.” Along with other helpers, they started lifting people - including the dead and injured.

“We started then to lift the rubble. Underneath the rubble was a slab of cement and we lifted the slab. Below was this boy curled up in a wee ball,” remembered Tommy, who says someone lifted him. He later learned it was Stephen Ross.

On meeting Stephen and seeing how well he looked, Tommy felt you wouldn’t have known ‘what he has been through’.

Tommy disclosed that he still suffers from emotional effects of the Enniskillen Bomb, which “will never go away”. In another traumatic life event four years previously he lost his only brother, John Hallawell, a member of the RUC, in a fatal shooting in Londonderry on October 28, 1983, which was actually Tommy’s birthday. It too remains a painful memory.

Meanwhile, Stephen Ross also caught up with Serena Doherty, whom he knew from school and whose father Jim Dixon was seriously injured in the Enniskillen bomb, and also bomb victims Stephen Gault and Daphne Stephenson. He said that they talked “about the effects of the bomb and how they have dealt with things since. I would have seen them from time to time but never really sat down and talked to them. This was an opportunity to do that.”