It was the day before Mother’s Day, 1993.

Schoolboy Tim Parry had gone shopping to buy his mum a card - and a pair of Neville Southall Everton football shorts. He was 12.

Also on a shopping trip with friends, their families and his babysitter, was three-year-old Johnathan Ball. He too was buying a Mother’s Day card.

Sadly the cards would never be delivered in person. Both children lost their lives when two IRA bombs - placed in iron litter bins on Bridge Street, Warrington - exploded without warning.

The location chosen was at the heart of the town centre, and a further 54 people were injured, some seriously, by shrapnel and other flying debris.

(Image: Sunday Mirror)

Johnathan died at the scene and Tim lost his fight for life 12 days later in hospital, when, with the agreement of his family, doctors switched off his life-support machine.

The atrocity gained global headlines - but no one has ever been prosecuted over Tim and Johnathan’s deaths, despite former IRA commander Martin McGuinness describing the bombings as a ‘shameful act’ and expressing his personal regret in 2013.

Tim’s parents, Colin and Wendy Parry, channelled their grief into pushing for peace, with Colin saying he believed the attack furthered the cause of peace and caused a shift in attitudes on both sides of the conflict.

On Tuesday, the town of Warrington will fall silent in tribute to both boys, and all other victims of terrorist atrocities, exactly 25 years on from the bombing.

Princess Anne, the Princess Royal, is set to attend a memorial service on Bridge Street, alongside the ambassador of Ireland to the United Kingdom, Adrian O’Neill.

The anniversary comes as a major new drama, based on the events of the day, was confirmed by the BBC. Mother’s Day, starring Anna Maxwell Martin and Vicky McClure and written by Nick Leather - who grew up in Warrington - focuses on two women living on either side of the Irish Sea who were brought together in the wake of the tragedy, Wendy Parry and Susan McHugh, a Dublin mother-of-two so outraged by the loss of young life that she organised one of the largest peace rallies in Irish history, leading thousands through the streets in protest at the continued violence of the Troubles.

For Colin Parry too, the attack and the loss of his son Tim became a seminal moment in the Northern Ireland peace process.

The Tim Parry Johnathan Ball Peace Foundation, a charity founded by Mr Parry in the wake of the bombing to promote peace and non-violent conflict resolution, opened in March 2000, and is supporting people across the country who have been affected by terrorism, including 750 affected by the Manchester Arena attack last May.

Mr Parry, who chairs the foundation, told the M.E.N. the charity was his son’s lasting legacy and offered hope and understanding to the families of those who lost loved ones at the Arena.

“At Tim’s funeral I said that if my son becomes a symbol for peace and gives everyone a new sense of hope after so much tragedy, then that will be Tim’s unique achievement,” he said. “Today, the charity which Wendy and I founded is the leading UK provider of support to victims of terrorism, young people and communities whose lives have been affected by extremism.

“As we mark 25 years since our son was taken from us in such horrific circumstances, we know that Tim, Johnathan and all those who were injured are remembered and honoured by the work that we do every day.

“The Manchester bomb affected Wendy and I more than any other event since 1993 because children and young people were the intended victims. He (Salman Abedi) knew the carnage he was going to create, in much the same way as the person who put bombs in bins in the middle of a busy town centre the day before Mother’s Day.

“The Manchester bomber was evil personified. The Warrington bomber was evil.

“I would like to say to families that the pain will subside, it does over a long time. They will never stop loving those who have been lost.”

On the day of the bomb authorities said ‘inadequate’ warnings had been received. The IRA later confirmed it made two telephone bomb warnings, one to police and one to a charity helpline, although Cheshire police chiefs said there was no mention of Warrington, making predicting a location impossible.

Less than 30 minutes after the warnings, the blasts happened within a minute of each other.

One device detonated outside a branch of Boots and the other outside McDonald’s.

Mr Parry said: “Tim was a matter of feet from the bin which the second bomb was in. People ran away from the first bomb straight into the second bomb.”

(Image: Trinity North West)

Now a grandfather, Mr Parry said his family has never felt hatred. “We were angry and heartbroken and lost but there was no space for hatred,” he said. “Thankfully there never has been. My thoughts on Tuesday will be with Tim and the kind of boy he was and what he brought to our family. Tim’s role in the family was that of the jester. He used to lark around the most.”

Johnathan’s father, Wilf Ball, died at home in 2004 of a suspected heart attack, aged 69. He never got over the tragedy of losing his only child and referred to Johnathan as his ‘little angel’.

Mr Ball separated from Johnathan’s mother, Marie Comerford, after their son’s death and she passed away in 2009. An inquest heard she lived a ‘reclusive’ life after the tragedy.

Children from more than 60 schools are due to attend the commemoration on Tuesday, making sure both Tim and Johnathan will never be forgotten.

All will wear the Peace Foundation’s colours of green – the colour of Tim’s uniform when he was a pupil at Great Sankey High School – as well as blue and white in tribute.

Nick Taylor is chief executive of the foundation and was present as many returned to the Arena to survey the scene in the aftermath. For him the ideals of the foundation remain a constant.

After 25 years my message is that our work goes on”, Mr Taylor said. “It’s important to reflect and remember what happened in Warrington but it is important too that we continue to offer support to those who need it and strive for peace. The foundation was created because of a father’s vision for peace and we will stay true to that.”