In his review of BBC Two’s Peter Taylor: Ireland After Partition (14 June), Stuart Jeffries implies that a cross-community holiday hosting Catholic and Protestant children together was a “rare initiative” in Northern Ireland. There were in fact a significant number of such initiatives across the sectarian divide in the 1970s, often with follow-up activities afterwards. Peace campaigners, Quakers, community activists and humanitarians came from around the world to volunteer with organisations such as International Voluntary Service, United Nations Association, Fellowship of Reconciliation, Voluntary Service Belfast, the Corrymeela Community, and many more. At times we had so many holidays organised that we had difficulty finding enough children! These young idealists were among those who kept the flame of hope alight in the days when a peace agreement seemed an impossibility. There was opposition, of course, and at least one prominent volunteer, Sean Armstrong, paid with his life. Their contribution to the eventual achievement of peace and stability is often undervalued.
Gregory Quiery
Liverpool
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