'We lived a lie for many years' after my father passed away

On the 21 November 1974, John Rowlands, 46, was killed when a bomb went off in the Mulberry Bush pub in Birmingham city centre.

Paul Rowlands was only 11-years-old when he lost his dad, he was living with both his parents at the time.

John Rowlands was no saint according to his son, he had a terrible temper and his parents had a very turbulent relationship.

But Paul still has fond memories of his dad teaching him to fish, something which he still loves to do today.

John Rowlands was an electrician at the Rover works in Tyseley and on his way home he would often stop off at the pub to have a drink.

He once shared a drink with the comedian and magician Tommy Cooper in the local pub, round the corner from the Odeon cinema.

Paul described his dad as someone who “thought out of the box” saying “he loved his science and he was a very logical and intelligent man."

Paul’s older brother was living in North Yorkshire at the time, he had just finished in the armed forces after doing three tours of Northern Ireland.

He said his father was “very proud” of his older brother Steve joining the forces because all of the family had served in the past.

The photograph of the two of them on holiday in Majorca in Spain was taken not long before John died and it holds fond memories for Paul.

As a souvenir, he also brought back a Spanish doll which had a prominent place behind the bar at the Mulberry Bush.

The first they knew of what had happened on the night of the 21 November, was when two police officers knocked on their door.

Paul says he remembers his mother Iris just broke down in tears and kept repeating “I don’t believe it, I don’t believe it, I don’t believe it.”

She still had his dad’s dinner waiting for him in the oven ready for him to come home.

Paul says his mum, who was already struggling with depression, never really came to terms with her husband’s death.

“It was very traumatic losing my father, seeing the reaction of my mother as well, trying to come to terms at 11-years-old with what had happened and what it meant, it was very very difficult.”

Less than three weeks before the night of the bombings, the boys had already said goodbye to their grandfather.

Paul says he had to grow up very quickly to support his mother and was very conscious about being taken into care, so the family “lived a lie for many years."

Even though he had taken on a lot of responsibility at such a young age, he wasn’t allowed to go to the funeral, something which Paul felt would have helped him come to terms with what had happened.

His brother thought it was important that everybody in the family moved on so he got rid of his father’s clothes and the family moved house.

Paul says for a long time, talking about what happened to his dad was a difficult subject so outside of the family he wouldn’t say anything.

Nowadays, he feels it’s important to talk about it with his own children but says he feels incredibly sad that they never got the chance to meet him.

He says that the best form of counselling for him, has been to talk to the other families who also lost their loved ones as a result of the attack.

“Other people say Paul you need to move on, you need to forget this, but with the other families...they were people that could genuinely empathise with me.”

Paul now regularly meets with the Justice for the 21 campaign group who are leading the campaign for justice.

“I’m sure that my father and my mother would be proud of what we’re doing now.”