Born in Unionist West Belfast into a ‘socio-political economic basket case’

“I believe the Derry Model as it is called now is excellent. It has produced outcomes which are recognised not just here in Ireland but globally. Just think about what the Derry Model has been used for, the Bloody Sunday Inquiry; public apologies; and parading agreements. It has a certain reputation or image of successful delivery.”

High praise indeed from Belfast man, Glenn Bradley who described himself to Derry Now as having been born in 1967, in Unionist West Belfast, into a “socio-political economic basket case”.

Glenn said he had had no hesitation in accepting Maeve McLaughlin’s (Bloody Sunday Trust) invitation to address the first ever Derry Peace and Conflict International Summer School.

Balkan visitors impressed by Derry Model

‘The level of the dialogue was something very valuable’ - Sofija Todorovic

“I gladly took it,” said the former British soldier and current member of Veterans For Peace. “I was speaking specifically about peace building and busting myths; rising above propaganda; getting into a room, face-to-face and looking at people in the whites of their eyes; and deciding dialogue is the only way forward by peaceful and democratic means.”

Glenn added that he believed our future had to be about “coming together and breaking down the segregation in this society.
“We need to address the poverty and injustice in this society. We can only do that by coming together; by entering dialogue; by engaging, promoting equality, and working to deliver non-violent outcomes that are constructive and positive for all of our people,” he said.

“We are a pluralist people now and we just have to keep working at it so we never, ever return to the insular thinking and divisiveness, the socio-political economic basket case into which I was born.

“I grew up in the shadow of what became the Peace Wall. The whole community suffered that daily ground hog day of violence on our doorstep.

“Aged 16 I enlisted into the British army. I did 10 years and came out in 1994, when I joined the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP). I was the UUP West Belfast constituency chairman and treasurer of the Ulster Unionist Council (UUC), the governing body of the party.

“Those officerships meant I was involved in the negotiations that led to the Good Friday Agreement. I wasn’t on the main team but obviously, as a constituency chairman and as treasurer of  the UUC, I was consulted on everything and gave my input. I was also developing my fledgling business in supply chain.”

Sadly, Glenn’s wife, Diane contracted terminal breast cancer and died in 1999.

“At that stage, I completely withdrew from political public life and focused on becoming a single father and running my business,” said the father of two boys and now two grandchildren. 

“I met Joan, my current wife, in 2003 and we wed in 2008. Then, in 2012, I got re-involved in public life, as a result of the flag protests, and particularly what was being said regarding unionism.

“I thought, ‘That doesn’t represent me. That doesn’t represent my inheritance.’ I spoke to people I knew in broadcasting and journalism, in the Republican movement and the Loyalist movement and they gave me guidance on what to do. I was able to do this because from my days in the UUP, I had a reputation of being someone who was ethically minded and quite fair. 

“I then took up a voluntary role as a director in Inter-Action Belfast, which works with communities on the ‘longest interface in the North’. I also became a trustee in the Community Foundation, a philanthropic hub which believes strategic giving has the power to create meaningful change and achieve our mission of equality for all in thriving communities.”

Glenn also chaired the Northern Ireland Business and Human Rights Forum, which concentrated on workers’ rights. 

“So I am back in the public arena,” said Glenn. “But, I don’t represent anybody. I don’t speak for any army. I don’t speak for any body of men. I speak of my own lived experience, as someone who went from worshipping at the high altar of violence when I was a soldier to someone who today is a peacenik. 

“I came to the conclusion violence is futile and the only way to tackle poverty and injustice, which I see as being the common denominators of all our problems, is to enter dialogue and promote equality and deliver outcomes.

“I have been involved with Bloody Sunday Trust on a few occasions. We were up in Derry as Veterans For Peace a few years ago, hosted by the Trust.

“Last week was the first international summer school it hosted and it interested me because the participants were kids from the Balkans and I had worked in Bosnia in 1992. I believed it was essential someone who could understand them and where they were coming from, could participate in it.”

Glenn said he believed our future could not be about “insular thinking and divisiveness to which some people hark back”.
“We have to keep looking forward. Eyes to the horizon and building and creating, hopefully, a pluralist parliament for a pluralist people.

“I think Stormont will return because the DUP simply can’t trust the Westminster Government and if they don’t go back to Stormont, they have no vehicle to challenge that Government.”