We are bringing our live coverage of the Birmingham pub bombings memorials to a close now.

Thank you for joining us.

Robyn Tighe was in the Tavern in the Town when the second bomb exploded.

She was just 19 and had gone to the pub hoping to run into a man she was interested in before he started his night shift.

The Tavern was the place to be seen, and she sat sipping her half of bitter and chatting to acquaintances while she waited for him to appear.

Suddenly, the lights went out.

"There isn't a sound when you're that close to a bomb of those proportions," Robyn says.

"It overtakes your whole body. It's a vibration, but it's not a fast vibration. It's a deep underground sort of vibration that goes through your body."

She believes a large wagon wheel wall decoration might have saved her life.

"The wagon wheel pushed me forward. Maybe it saved me, maybe it covered me, protected me from more of the blast," she said.

She escaped serious injury, but has lived with PTSD for almost 50 years.

"I’m a survivor with scars,” she says.

A BBC News special, I Was There: The Birmingham Pub Bombs is available to watch now on BBC iPlayer

Billy Power was one of six Irishmen arrested by police in the hours after the pubs were bombed.

He says police brutality and threats, during hours of questioning, forced him to sign a false confession.

"It was easier, psychologically and physically, to agree to it and put a signature to it," he says.

Billy went on trial with Paddy Hill, Hugh Callaghan, Johnny Walker, Richard McIkenny and Gerry Hunter.

Image source, Reuters

The men, who became known as the Birmingham Six, were convicted of 21 counts of murder and wrongfully imprisoned for 16 and a half years.

"We could never have got a fair trial, no matter what," Billy says.

"We might as well have just sat in the dock with a paper bag over our heads."

The Six were freed on appeal after work by investigative journalist Chris Mullin helped debunk forensic, circumstantial and confessional evidence.

The case is remembered as one of Britain's worst miscarriages of justice.

Those responsible for the bombings have never faced justice.

Read more here.

James Bovill
BBC News, West Midlands

Home Office minister and Birmingham Yardley MP Jess Phillips says she has a "firm" relationship with bereaved families who are seeking a statutory public inquiry.

Phillips, who attended the memorial service outside Birmingham New Street, said it had been an honour to read out the names of the victims.

When asked about the timescale for a government decision about the inquiry, she said: "I recognise that the Hambletons and others have been waiting for 50 years but we are a relatively new government and we are looking at the legacy issues in the round.

"Julie Hambleton has my telephone number so, don't worry, she keeps on at me."

The minister added each different case had to be looked at on its own merit.

“Unfortunately, as somebody who grew up half northern Irish in this city and very much in the shadow of this incident, the level of complexity about legacy issues is not one that is lost on the people of this city," she said.

"Even if we find out the facts of what happened here we are talking 50 years ago. The idea of what justice actually can look like in this case diminishes."

Image source, PA Media

Maureen Mitchell did not think she would make it out of the Mulberry Bush alive.

She had met her fiance in there for a drink and they were chatting about Christmas plans when the bomb exploded.

"If I die, remember I love you," she told him, after he had dragged her out with the help of a security guard.

Shrapnel had perforated her bowel and, in hospital, a priest read her last rites.

But, against the odds, she survived.

"They saved me," she says. "I was one of the lucky ones."

Read more here.

Josh Sandiford
BBC News, in Birmingham

Amy Hodgins is from Birmingham originally but now she lives in Cumbria.

The 35-year-old travelled down from Carlisle this morning to remember those who lost their lives.

She called the 50th anniversary "such an important day", adding she feared it could be the last chance for victims to obtain justice.

"I'm now 35. The events happened 15 years before I was born," she said.

"None of my friends my age know about it and I think it's so important that young people know about exactly what has happened.

"Families are dying and we need to be here to tell the people higher up and the government that we're not going away."

Ed Barlow
Presenter, The Pub Bombings

I started this podcast about seven months ago but I’d been thinking about it for a couple of years. What I wanted to do was bring the whole case together for the first time - to my knowledge that hadn’t been done before.

I wanted to do this partly because I knew there was a powerful story to tell, but also because I felt it was something in danger of being forgotten - 50 years is a long time and if you’re under a certain age (or not from Birmingham), the pub bombings are something that may not be on your radar. This is inevitable of course, but the bombs did have a profound and lasting impact on the whole country (from the initial horror, to new laws regarding terrorism and eventually new regulations for policing), and that’s what I wanted to explore.

Over the years there had been various TV and radio programmes marking the anniversary and, more recently, looking at the inquest in 2019, but nothing that had put everything in one place and looked at how all the elements and the stages of this complex case were interlinked, from the original police investigation, to the Birmingham Six and up to the present day.

More than that though, I was also interested to explore how the impact of those bombs is still being felt to this day in so many ways by so many people – not just the people who were in the pubs, or the people who lost loved ones - for whom the the memories are still vivid and harrowing - but people like Breda Power, whose father was one of the so-called Birmingham Six. How had that affected her life?

I also spoke to reporters who were on the scene, Michael Buerk and Nick Owen. The way they described what they witnessed left it very obvious that this was something that had never left them.

Of course, reporting on events is one thing, but losing a loved one is quite another and inevitably the impact on those people has been profound over the years. Many will recognise Julie Hambleton, who is leading the calls for a public inquiry, but fewer will have heard from Brian Davis, whose sister Jane died in the blasts, or from Paul Anthony Bridgewater whose father was killed, three months before Paul was even born.

Whether or not there will ever be a public inquiry is impossible to know. What we do know is that they can take years of campaigning to bring about but, with so many unanswered questions, and no rightful prosecutions, I can entirely understand why the families are desperate to have one.

The service has ended and the Archbishop and Bishop of Birmingham are leading the congregation out in silence.

Shortly the cathedral bells will toll 21 times to remember those who died in the bombings.

The congregation is reflecting in silence as the cathedral service nears its end.

PC Eric Noble was deployed to Birmingham Airport on the day of the bombing.

IRA man James McDade had died while planting a bomb the previous week in Coventry, and his body was being repatriated to Belfast for a funeral.

Police had expected trouble during the funeral cortege, but soon after 20:00 GMT Eric was called urgently to the city centre.

Arriving at the Mulberry Bush, he found the scene “eerily quiet”.

He helped other officers attend to the dead.

"The removal of the bodies and the body parts from the scene was really the worst part, the most horrific part," he said.

"One of our unit didn't want to handle the bodies and we respected that.

"But the rest of that realised the importance of doing it and doing it respectfully."

He says the horror of the night will stay with him forever.

"The only time [my wife] ever saw me overcome with emotion was when I got back that night from the Birmingham pub bombings."

A BBC News special, I Was There: The Birmingham Pub Bombs is available to watch now on BBC iPlayer

Josh Sandiford
BBC News, West Midlands

I’m in attendance at today’s second memorial service inside a packed Birmingham Cathedral.

There was a line snaking around the city’s Cathedral Square as members of the public arrived to pay their respects.

I’ve spotted many of the same faces from throughout the day - from people walking the length and breadth of the city to lay wreaths to those who observed a moment’s silence at New Street Station this afternoon.

There are survivors of the attack in attendance as well as relatives of victims. As we got under way we were told of 21 candles on the altar for each of the victims who died.

There are a very few empty seats inside the cathedral. This event marks a final moment of collective reflection and coming together on a day described as both very special and very sad for Birmingham.

The Archbishop of Birmingham has spoken to the congregation about reconciliation and the healing it can bring.

He said nobody had the right to ask for forgiveness, but those that had lost loved ones had the right to hear the words: "I am sorry, please forgive me."

The Most Reverend Bernard Longley said: "Wounds leave scars and scars are a reminder of the trauma but also of the healing and they're often stronger than what they have replaced."

A pause for silence followed his words.

The service has heard how the memorial in the city has brought together the families of the victims and the Birmingham Irish community.

Today, we saw wreaths and flowers being laid at the memorial by many in the city.

Twenty-one candles are to be lit for all who died.

Ed Barlow
Presenter, The Pub Bombings

In 1991, the Birmingham Six's convictions were quashed and the men released from prison, largely thanks to Chris Mullin, an investigative journalist, who by that time was also a Labour MP.

During the original trial, Mullin had been tipped off that there might be something flawed with the convictions, and some time later he started digging.

"I realised from the start that poking holes in police evidence alone wasn’t enough,” he says. "I'd need to track down the real bombers and they'd be alive and well in Ireland."

It took several years to prove the men's innocence, but few could have imagined that decades on there would still be so many questions to answer or that now, a full 50 years since the bombings, no-one has been brought to justice for what's believed by many to be the largest unsolved mass murder in modern British history.

Today there are continued calls for a public inquiry into the pub bombings – and that might be inching closer to becoming a reality.

Read more here.

A service of reflection has started at St Philip's Cathedral to mark the 50th anniversary of the pub bombings.

Prayers and hymns will be interspersed with moments of silent reflection.

The cathedral bell will toll 21 times at the end of the service to remember those who died.

The Library of Birmingham will be lit up tonight to commemorate the 50-year memorial of the pub bombings.

The display has been used to mark important events ranging from Remembrance Day to Baby Loss Awareness Week and Cancer Awareness Month.

On Thursday, it will mark 50 years since the explosions that killed 21 and injured 220 others, the city council said.

Bernie Mintz has recalled the night he decided to go and see his girlfriend after work instead of going for a drink.

He was at the door of the Tavern in the Town when he remembered his girlfriend’s voice from the night before as she asked him to go and see her.

He turned and ran for a bus. The bomb went off in the pub moments later, as he boarded the bus.

You can listen to his memories here:

Trish Adudu
BBC Radio WM

West Midlands Mayor Richard Parker says he will explore every avenue to achieve justice for the families of the 21 pub bombing victims.

Parker attended the earlier service next to Birmingham New Street station alongside the Duchess of Edinburgh, dignitaries, bereaved families and community members.

He will also be going to a memorial service at Birmingham Cathedral which starts at 17:00 GMT.

"I wanted to go today to support the families. I support their quest for truth and justice," he says.

The Labour mayor is due to meet the government's security minister soon and said he would ask a series of questions about the statutory public inquiry families have called for.

"I want to ensure that we don’t close off other avenues that can secure the answers to the questions, the very valid questions and justice that the families deserve," he says.

"I hope and I believe that Keir Starmer the Prime Minister [will] do his very best for the families of those who lost their lives 50 years ago."

Parker met with victims' families shortly after he was elected in May and described it as a "positive and constructive" conversation.

Vic Minett
BBC Coventry & Warwickshire

Image source, Diane Slater

Diane Slater, from Rugby, Warwickshire, was 16 when she was caught up in the pub bombings.

She had just moved to Birmingham for work and was enjoying her newfound freedom.

On November 21 1974, she met friends in the Mulberry Bush for a drink.

Just after 20:00 GMT she remembers "a loud bang and blast of air".

Confused and disorientated, she remembers climbing over rubble to escape.

Only once she had found her way to safety did she realise the gravity of her injuries.

Image source, Diane Slater

She still has a hole in her right knee, where muscle and ligament was destroyed. All her toes had to be sewn back onto her left foot.

"We were all very lucky, our wounds were superficial," she says.

"Others lost their lives."

Listen to her story here.

Image source, Aston Villa FC

Aston Villa FC marked the 50th anniversary of the pub bombings by announcing plans to unveil a permanent memorial to the 21 victims.

In a Facebook post, external, the club said its thoughts were with bereaved families and all others affected by the tragedy.

It also encouraged its supporters to observe the minute's silence held earlier today at 14:00 GMT.

The women's team posted a photo on X, external of players taking a break to remember lost lives.

Image source, Aston Villa FC

In addition, a minute's applause is planned for half-time during Saturday's match against Crystal Palace at Villa Park, while victims' names are displayed on the big screens.

Bereaved family members will be pitch-side during the applause, the club said.

It plans to unveil the memorial early next year as part of a150th anniversary wall on which fans can purchase personalised plaques.