13th June, anniversary of the worst day in my life when I lost my brave & beautiful daughter Grace in the Nottingham attacks. Grace was the love of my life. The best of me and the best of my wife Sinéad. Thank you all for coming to grieve with us, the Coates family and a special I’ll thanks to @redrumlisa for being there and representing the warm people of Nottingham. Rev Dr Alan Mair gave a beautiful homily at St Paul’s Church, Lenton. We then walked across and laid a rose for my rose Gracie at Ilkeston Road. 🌹
This is the text of Rev Dr Alan Mair’s homily: beautiful words:
my Homily for victims Grace, Barney and Ian June 13th 2026
We need few words to express why we are gathered here on the third anniversary of the brutal attack that left Grace, Ian and Barney dead and Sharon and Wayne who received life changing injuries.
We gather with heavy hearts. We come before God carrying grief, anger, confusion, and sorrow. We remember, Grace, Barney and Ian whose lives were cruelty taken. We pray for each other whose lives have been forever changed.
In moments like these, words can seem inadequate. We ask questions that have no easy answers. Why did this happen? Why were precious lives lost? Why does violence continue to wound our communities?
The Gospel does not pretend that suffering is easy to understand. Even Jesus stood before the tomb of his friend Lazarus and wept. The Son of God Himself entered into human grief. This reminds us that our tears are not a sign of weak faith. They are a sign of love. And God receives every tear we shed.
We entrust them to the mercy of God, confident in the promise of Christ who said, "I am the resurrection and the life." Death does not have the final word. Through His death and resurrection, Christ has opened the way to eternal life. A tough concept to understand. But last Saturday at the hockey tournament I felt the presence of Grace. On the stands at the City Ground, I am certain Ian was cheering the fact that Forest stayed up while West Ham were relegated. I am certain too that Barney’s cricket club feel his gentle presence as they go out to bat.
Yet our prayer today extends beyond remembrance. We also pray for healing. We pray for parents whose hearts have been broken, for brothers and sisters, sons and daughters who miss a loved one, for friends carrying trauma, and for communities living in fear.
The Christian response to violence is not indifference. Nor is it revenge. St Paul tells us: "Do not be overcome by evil but overcome evil with good." This is one of the hardest commands in the Gospel. Yet history shows that hatred never heals hatred. Violence never truly defeats violence. Only love, justice, mercy, and truth can break the cycle.
We are called to become instruments of peace. In our homes, schools, parishes, and communities, we must build a culture where every person knows they are valued and loved. We must support young people, strengthen families, and work for justice. We must refuse to accept violence as normal or inevitable.
The Church stands alongside all who suffer. We believe that even in the darkest moments, God has not abandoned His people. The Cross itself seemed like a victory for violence and death. Yet God transformed it into the source of salvation and hope. The resurrection assures us that darkness does not overcome the light.
And we ask the Lord to make us bearers of His peace, so that through our words, actions, and witness, we may help build a society where life is cherished, communities are healed, and every person can live without fear.
May the souls of all who have died through violence rest in peace.
And may the peace of Christ, which surpasses all understanding, guard our hearts and minds, now and always.
Amen.
@EmilyMayTV@ITVCentral@SkyNews@MartinDaubney@redrumlisa@nottm_post@downingstreet@wesstreeting@jamesmurray_ldn@AlexDaviesJones
Barnaby Philip John Webber
11/01/2004-13/06/2023 💔
If you can, share these images of the beautiful soul stolen from us by the worst of humanity.
Let his face today burn bright.
Barney, I promise you there will be accountability 💛💚
For You. For Grace. For Ian.
@bagshaw2112@ClarksonsFarm1@UKLabour@JeremyClarkson I’d happily watch it 24/7. Funny, heartbreaking and warming at the same time, showing how stiffed everyone but especially our farmers are being treated and excellent entertainment at the same time.
Started watching series 5 of @ClarksonsFarm1 last night - had to watch all 5 episodes. This is the best series on TV and subtly holds the @UKLabour government to account. Think the Bonfire scene in episode 2 is my favourite. If you haven’t watched it- you must @JeremyClarkson@elonmusk
@MarkLabbett I caused a huge family rift on Friday in our sweepstake by doing a random draw. Needless to say I wasn’t my son’s favourite mother 🫣. It has now been redrawn with the seedings 🤣🤣🤣
He fixed 200 bikes he'll never ride. Then he found out why.
Last winter, a 16-year-old named Marcus walked into a beat-up workshop in Boston with nothing but a court-ordered community service form and what he later called "a serious attitude problem."
He wasn't there to learn. He was there to clock hours and leave.
The place was Bikes Not Bombs — a small nonprofit that's been collecting donated bicycles since 1984, fixing them up, and sending them to communities around the world. Over 80,000 bikes have rolled out of programs like theirs. Most of the people doing the fixing? Teenagers who started out just like Marcus.
A mentor handed him a wrench. Didn't say much. Just pointed at a rusted-out mountain bike in the corner and said, "See what you can do."
Marcus didn't leave after his hours were done that first day.
He came back the next Saturday. And the one after that. Through a Boston winter that hit the teens, he'd show up before the shop opened, hands shoved in his pockets, waiting by the door.
Over eight months, he repaired more than 200 bicycles. Stripped frames, rebuilt gear systems, replaced brake cables so worn they snapped in his hands. Bikes that arrived as junk left looking like they just came off a showroom floor. He never asked what happened to them after they left the shop.
Then one afternoon, a program coordinator pulled up a photo on her phone. It was a little girl — maybe seven years old — in a bright yellow dress, standing in a village in Ghana. She was beaming. Both hands gripped the handlebars of a blue bike. A blue bike with a very specific scratch on the fork that Marcus recognized immediately.
He had fixed that bike in November. He remembered it because the chain had been completely seized and it took him three hours. He almost gave up on it.
He didn't say anything for a long time. Then he asked if he could see more photos.
There were dozens. Kids in countries Marcus had barely heard of, riding bikes he had quietly fixed in a cold Boston workshop — alone, early, with no one watching, for no reward he could see at the time.
"I used to think I was nobody doing nothing in a shop nobody cared about. But somebody's riding what I fixed right now. I don't even know their name. That's the craziest thing I've ever felt."
— Marcus, 16, Boston
He still works in that shop. He brought two friends from his neighborhood last month.
He handed them each a wrench and pointed at the bikes in the corner.
I’m at the pharmacy picking up a prescription for my dad
The young lady came on the speaker and talked super fast and quiet. I let her know I was hearing impaired and asked if she could say it again a little slower for me. I was super pleasant about it, I have to do this all the time.
She then said whatever she said at the exact same rate of speed and exact same volume.
I told her I’m really embarrassed, but I still have no idea what you said could you talk a little louder and a little slower for me”
She then screamed into the microphone whatever it was she was trying to communicate.
It was so loud that the speaker distorted.
The guy in the car next to me had his window down and he told me he was sorry.
I still have no idea what she said. I’m just sitting here waiting for something to happen.
Being hearing impaired is the only impairment that other people get mad at you for having and it really sucks
Every day, I am exhausted from trying to hear people. I have two hearing aids and a device I wear on my chest to amplify what goes into my hearing aids.
It’s simply amazing how many people refuse to adapt their speech when you ask them directly to.
It’s amazing how many people get mad because of something I can’t help.
It’ll be interesting to see how long I sit here and what exactly is going to happen because I have no idea.
@The_LCDC They will say you should have anticipated it. Had the same when a learner stalled in front. Had anticipated them being able to move forward as nothing in front of them. Very unfair.