PROTESTANT and Catholics from a Northern Ireland town devastated by an IRA bombing showed their unity by joining forces to host a Diamond Jubilee visit by the Queen.

Clergy from both communities marked the Queen's 60-year reign by staging events in Enniskillen – where an explosion in 1987 killed 11 people on Remembrance Day.

In an Anglican Cathedral a service of thanksgiving for the Diamond Jubilee was held while a few metres across the street the Queen made history by visiting a Catholic church for the first time in either Northern Ireland or the Republic.

The move was an advancement in Anglo-Irish relations which will take a huge step forward when the Queen shakes hands with former IRA commander Martin McGuinness in Belfast today. Mr McGuinness said it was about stretching out the hand of "peace and reconciliation".