Tribute to Brighton bombing victims

Reporter: by Richard Hooton
Date published: 13 October 2009


ONE of Oldham’s most respected politicians was remembered in a memorial service to mark the 25th anniversary of the IRA bomb attack on Brighton’s Grand Hotel.

The blast on October 12, 1984, ripped through the Victorian hotel in the East Sussex resort during the Conservative Party conference, killing five people and seriously injuring 34. Among the dead was Eric Taylor (54), from Denshaw, a leading Tory and chairman of the North-West Conservatives.

The Oldham-born politician was a councillor and alderman on Oldham Council from 1961 to 1974 and a magistrate from 1966.

He was awarded the OBE in 1974 for his services to politics.

A service at Brighton’s St Paul’s Parish Church last night paid tribute to those who lost their lives or who were injured in the outrage that shocked the nation.

The church near the Grand Hotel was used in the aftermath of the bombing and bears a plaque on its wall listing the names of those who died.

Following the service Lord (Norman) Tebbit, who was rescued from the rubble alongside his wife Margaret, who was left paralysed, unveiled a memorial plaque inside the refurbished Grand Hotel.

Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was unharmed despite working on her conference speech inside the hotel at the time of the explosion, just before 3am.

Mr Taylor and his wife Jennifer were asleep in room 528 on the hotel’s fifth floor when the 20lb bomb went off in the bathroom above them.

Mrs Taylor was hurled in the air as the explosion tore apart her bedroom and plunged six floors into the basement — but walked away with minor injuries.

Mr Taylor, who worked as a manager for Warrington-based Control Data Marketing, was a member of the party’s national executive and its general purposes committee and a former chairman of Oldham Conservative Association.

Around 1,000 people, including top Tories, packed into Oldham Parish Church for his memorial service 25 years ago.

Rev Dr James Bentley told the congregation Mr Taylor was: “A great loyalist, a strong believer in the civil liberties of our country, a royalist and certainly a patriot.

“Oldham can be proud to have born Eric Taylor and he was proud of Oldham.”

Bomber Patrick Magee was given eight life sentences at the Old Bailey in 1986 for the attack, with a recommendation to serve a minimum of 35 years.

He has since been released from prison under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement.

He is expected to attend a meeting at the House of Commons tomorrow to discuss forgiveness.