Frome resident Jo Berry has been made CBE in the King’s Birthday Honours, for services to peace and reconciliation. Founder of the charity Building Bridges for Peace and an international speaker and educator, Jo has dedicated her life to promoting peace and empathy since her father, Conservative MP Sir Anthony Berry, was killed by the IRA in the Brighton bombing on 12th October 1984. Jo said:
“When I read the letter I was in shock, such a surprise. I’m deeply honoured to receive this award. It was not something that ever occurred to me would happen. For me it’s about everyone who’s supported me on my journey to help me achieve what I’ve achieved. I also see it as for everyone who’s chosen empathy over hatred. For me it’s about recognising our shared humanity, even after loss and pain.”
After the Brighton bombing, Jo chose an unusual path through grief; to seek to understand the motivations and the humanity of those who chose violence. It has become her life’s work: Jo has worked in schools, prisons and locations across the globe promoting peace and conflict transformation and influencing policy, via her charity Building Bridges for Peace, founded in 2009.
“I made a very private commitment. If I could find a way to bring something positive out of what had happened; if I could even understand those who’d killed him, then I was going to be ok.”
Years of work followed, building connections with communities in Northern Ireland, but it was in 1998, after the Good Friday peace agreement that Jo’s peace building took a new turn, with the release of Pat Magee from prison, the man responsible for the Brighton bombing – and Jo’s decision to meet him:
“He shared with me the political reasons why he joined the IRA and what was happening in his community, how it was a political response to the oppression and pain in his community. I was familiar with the political explanation, I was thinking ‘he is justifying killing my father’. But then something happened. He looked at me and said ‘I’ve never met anyone like you before: so open, with so much dignity. I want to hear your pain and your anger – and how can I help?’ In that moment, he had taken off the political hat and become open and vulnerable. Pat now knows that not only did he demonise the other, but that he was demonised. It was happening on both sides, and that’s what I see happening with conflict around the world.”
Since that meeting, Jo Berry and Pat Magee have shared a platform on more than 300 occasions and the award of a CBE recognises 40 years of commitment to peaceful resolution of conflict, wherever it is found.
More locally, Jo is a founder member of Frome community group Let’s Talk, who offer regular free workshops and meetings at the town hall, applying the principles of non-judgemental communication and active listening to tricky conversations of any kind, large or small. They can also support organisations to develop effective and respectful communication techniques. Find out more about Let’s Talk and dates for forthcoming workshops at https://bit.ly/lets-talk-workshops. More about Building Bridges for Peace is at https://buildingbridgesforpeace.org/.
