7/7 victim's mother hails new memorial

Bristol cleric Julie Nicholson was among relatives who attended the unveiling of a memorial to the victims of the July 7 London bus and Tube bombings.

Mrs Nicholson, whose daughter Jenny, 24, was one of 52 victims, said the stainless steel installation in Hyde Park was a fitting tribute.

The Prince of Wales, Duchess of Cornwall and Prime Minister were among those at the launch ceremony yesterday, the fourth anniversary of the 2005 atrocity. The names of all the people killed when four suicide bombers attacked London's transport network were read out.

The memorial, which cost almost £1 million, comprises 52 pillars, one for each of those who died, grouped in four clusters to mark the four locations of the attacks – Tavistock Square, Edgware Road, King's Cross and Aldgate.

The 11.5ft (3.5m) pillars stand close to the busy road so they can be seen by passers-by.

Mrs Nicholson said: "I think one of the great powerful aspects of the memorial is that it has this wonderful ability to reflect the light but also to cast huge shadows.

"When you're standing in the midst of it I think there will be a really profound sense of 'well this could have been me'."

Mrs Nicholson was priest-in-charge of St Aidan and St George in Bristol at the time her eldest child was killed in the Edgware Road bombing but resigned some months later because of her difficulty in coming to terms with the tragedy.

She said at the time that it was "very difficult for me to stand behind an altar and celebrate the Eucharist and talk to people in words of peace, reconciliation and forgiveness when I feel very far from that myself."

Mrs Nicholson, who with her husband Greg has two other grown-up children, Lizzie and Tom, now works for the church on drama and arts projects with young people. She is also writing a book called Song for Jenny: A Mother's Story about her experiences.

After the ceremony, Charles and Camilla met the team who created the memorial, survivors of the attacks and members of the emergency services who responded to the atrocity.

Among those the Duchess spoke to was Jenny's godmother Dendy Harris, from Crewkerne, Somerset.

Ms Harris said: "She was asking what did I think about the memorial.

"I said I thought it was absolutely stunning. I said to her it reminded me of a modern-day Stonehenge. She said it was somewhere they hope people will come and remember, but not always be sad."

She said the way the memorial stones sparkled in the sunlight was "wonderful", adding: "It's the sort of place you bring children so they can just remember what the people were like but play around as well."

Prince Charles told those gathered he and his wife wanted to express "our deeply held grief and anguish at the appalling aberrations in the human consciousness which produced such cruel and mindless carnage".

He also praised the "resilience and fortitude of the British people" and compassion of the emergency services, that got the country through July 7 and the days and weeks that followed.

Veteran broadcaster Sir Trevor MacDonald, who was hosting the ceremony, slowly and solemnly read the name of every person killed in the London bombings and at the end of the roll call told the families and survivors: "We will remember them all."

A minute's silence was then held as the rain, which had held off for much of the ceremony, began to fall heavily.

The unveiling of the memorial came as Keith Vaz, chairman of the House of Commons Home Affairs Committee, said MPs' would launch a new inquiry into the 7/7 bombings.

Mr Vaz said: "The committee will be inviting MI5, MI6 and terrorism experts to give evidence with the aim of gaining a detailed picture of what the security services knew before 7/7, what, if anything, could have been done to prevent the attacks and the Government's response."