Patrick O‘Doherty and Raymond Hamilton became lifelong friends (Image: BBC/Raymond Hamilton)
Derry Boys tells how two young boys crossed community divisions at the height of the conflict in the North of Ireland to become lifelong friends.
Patrick O‘Doherty and Raymond Hamilton left behind their segregated communities in Derry to travel to Holland at the tender ages of 10 and 11 in 1975.
The visit was part of an initiative to offer vulnerable Catholic and Protestant children the chance to share an adventure abroad away from the hatred and bigotry that surrounded them at the time.
It was just three years after Bloody Sunday, when 13 people were shot dead by the British Army after soldiers opened fire on civil rights demonstrators in Derry.
Through unearthed audio recordings of the boys from the 1970s, listeners hear about the lives of Patrick and Raymond.
Listeners will also hear the men’s thoughts on the trip that transformed their lives and their perspectives on life in Northern Ireland 50 years on.
Patrick and Raymond, now almost 60 years old, reunite in their home city to listen to the tapes to reflect on how it changed them forever.
Raymond describes “going from a world of black and white to a world of color” when he arrived in Holland.
He also remembers “the ripple effect” of kind strangers opening their homes to children like him from across the religious divide.
Patrick admits that not many people where he lived “had never even met a Protestant” in the 1970s, but he had “and he was no different”.
The broadcast coincides with the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement.
The BBC Radio 4 documentary is produced and narrated by documentary maker Proinsias Ó Coinn and commissioned by Hugh Levinson.
Patrick O’Doherty and Raymond Hamilton met in 1975 (Image: BBC/Raymond Hamilton)
“Through geography, history and circumstance, these were schoolboys who were never meant to be friends.
“One trip changed all that. Years later, this is a fascinating insight into how opening doors can open minds. We defy the odds when we choose hope not hate.”
* Derry Boys will be broadcast on BBC Radio 4 today, Monday, April 3, and repeated on Wednesday April 12.
It will be available online and on the BBC Sounds app afterwards.
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