"But I'd never heard of the Bradford disaster until I auditioned for this," she says. It's gone," he says. On the recording are Dene Michael (Black Lace), The Chuckle Brothers, Clive Jackson of Dr & The Medics, Owen Paul, Billy Pearce, Billy Shears, Flint Bedrock, Danny Tetley and Rick Wild of The Overlanders. For the 30th anniversary of the fire a new version of "You'll Never Walk Alone" was recorded at Voltage Studios in Bradford. Gambling can be addictive. And so, too, is the black tragicomedy which can exist at the boundaries. [47] Scriptwriters of the play spent hours with the survivors and victims families. The fire destroyed the main stand completely and left only burned seats, lamps and metal fences remaining. As he received the injured at Bradford Royal Infirmary he was able to call upon 10% of the UK's population of plastic surgeons. The timber construction of St. Andrew's Stand, Main Stand and the roof of its popular Railway End terrace were immediately condemned as fire hazards, which saw seating capacity briefly cut to nil. The deaths were preventable . Some had been crushed as they tried to crawl under turnstiles to escape while a man who was captured on television running across the pitch on fire later died in hospital of his injuries. Picture date: Thursday August 25, 2022. Crowds on the pitch at the Valley Parade stadium after a stand caught fire Getty Images. BRADFORD, N.H. (AP) An explosion and a fire at a school bus transportation company building in Bradford critically injured two people, the New Hampshire State Fire Marshal's . If you need a guest pass please contact the ticket office at 480-727-0000 to make sure your seats are together. The referee blew his whistle to stop the game and told us to get back to the dressing room, recalled City midfielder John Hendrie some years later. We couldnt run back down the tunnel. The match itself, however, had to be interrupted before half time as a fire quickly broke out, with memories of title celebrations now replaced with this horrible tragedy. [4] Football ground writer Simon Inglis had described the view from the stand as "like watching football from the cockpit of a Sopwith Camel" because of its antiquated supports and struts. A total of 56 people - 54 Bradford fans and two. Some had been crushed as they tried to crawl under turnstiles to escape. Horrendous. by tim_noone Fri May 11, 2018 10:08 pm, Post There were a lot of wooden stands in those days, PNE Bury to name but two. Rupert Benedict Greenwood (11) www.fansbet.com is operated by Rush Gaming Limited (a company registered in Malta) and is regulated by the Malta Gaming Authority, Licence Number MGA/B2C/701/2019 issued on 30th March 2020. Charlotte Ormondroyd Fleet Underwriter at Axa Insurance Bradford, England, United Kingdom 336 followers 339 connections Join to connect AXA Beckfoot School Activity Great time in Leeds this. Never seen the death roll that's horrendous the Ormondroyd family looks like Father and his two twins. Walter Kerr (76) Police present in the vicinity of seats I142 and J142, where the fire was adjudged to have first taken hold, noticed it. by tim_noone Thu May 10, 2018 11:53 pm, Post Their initial aim at that time was to promote BCFC in the community by increasing the fan base and awareness of the Club. Regional Scout (South): Chris Finn. These 3 users liked this post: Silkyskills1 tim_noone bobinho, I was closely connected to Bradford City and knew people who died in the fire. He starts trying to explain what happened when the smoke filled the stand and he can't do it, just breaks down. Memorial ID. by tim_noone Fri May 11, 2018 11:37 pm, Powered by phpBB Forum Software phpBB Limited, This Forum is the main messageboard to discuss all things Claret and Blue and beyond. Even if you're in a small town, it's the main focal point," says Ian Ormondroyd. [40] Matthew Wildman was 17 at the time and needed crutches to walk because of rheumatoid arthritis. . "I wept with joy," she says. Footage never fails to shock me. The father whose burgeoning success as a metals stockholder, driving a BMW 323i, took him a long way from his roots, selling coach trips to Mablethorpe. When Bradford City played Lincoln City at Valley Parade on May 11th, 1985, what should have been an afternoon of celebration quickly turned into one of the worst disasters ever seen at a British football ground. The Independent Magazine's own investigations, at the National Archive at Kew, bear out the nagging suspicions Fletcher always had. "I feel like I've been in my 20s for years," he says and his life now south-west London flatshare, single professional seems to reflect the world of a restive soul, struggling for an anchor. For every person who died or was injured it is easy to forget that their death/injury impacts dozens or even hundreds of family members and friends . April 13, 2010, 07:39:58 pm The Valley Parade fire. ? pic.twitter.com/VkqiAEXBR8, billy clarke (@billyclarke7) May 11, 2016. The city has seemed to want it to remain the forgotten disaster, though for many, the sense of what-might-have-been is too acute to want to block out the past. RIP. The fact the inquiry also embraced the investigation into another incident which happened on the same day, a riot in which a young boy died at Birmingham City, makes it seem more frivolous. ER 2005 . Among the main outcomes of the inquiry were the banning of new wooden grandstands at all UK sports grounds, the immediate closure of other wooden stands deemed unsafe and the banning of smoking in other wooden stands. March 3, 2022. "In memory of the 56 people who went to the match on a Saturday and never returned home." Burnley were down south that day probably in the Midlands.we stopped off for beer in Rochdale and saw the horror on the telly box. Norman Hall (71) Those lucky enough to escape, including players from both sides, took refuge in a pub across the road from the ground as friends and family members desperately tried to find their loved ones in the chaos. Edmund Anderton (68) [39], The club's chairman, Stafford Heginbotham, said: "It was to be our day". They were even quite afraid of the football fans before the fire. Thats when everybody else had the same thought. "That made me angry: that people don't know about this.". At Valley Parade there are now two memorials. Bradford Council has tweeted: "@WYFRS are dealing with a fire within one of the buildings at a school on Thornton View Road BD14. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. Part of the service was also held in Urdu and Punjabi as a sign of appreciation to the local ethnically Asian Subcontinental community in Manningham, Bradford and around Valley Parade who had opened their homes to Bradford City supporters to provide assistance in the immediate aftermath of the disaster. As Fletcher's investigations have given his book a huge profile, so its subtler components have in many ways been overlooked. A police officer shouted to a colleague for an extinguisher, but his call was misheard and instead the fire brigade were radioed. For the book, we are looking to hear from people who were there but were children at the time, but could tell us their story.. on: May 11, 2012, 10:28:10 am . "We're trying to find out why a lot of the Asian communities don't come to the ground, whether they feel they can't come to the games because they feel intimidated or whatever.". Topic: 25 years ago today, the Bradford City disaster. To take part in the project, email paula.helliwell@gmail.com by December 16. The project, which began in February this year, is now. House Prices in Ormondroyd Avenue, Wibsey, Bradford, West Yorkshire, BD6 Properties in Ormondroyd Avenue had an overall average price of 128,000 over the last year. Those are the words of David Pendleton, a survivor of the Bradford City fire disaster, which happened 30 years ago. Head of Sports Science: Greg Stebbings. He later said: "I have never known anything like it, either before, or since. Peter Anthony Halliday (34) ", Bantamspast These are the kinds of loose ends which would now be investigated to the end of the earth by the Hillsborough team. Forty-year-old Gerald Ormondroyd also died that day, along with his 12-year old twin sons Richard and Robert, just two of ten families to lose more than one member at Valley Parade.. As many supporters still required rescue from the stand, they were unable to immediately start fighting the source of the fire. Some of those back in Bradford have not welcomed his turning over of the stones. They all ventured back. The fact is that no one person was concerned with the safety of the premises. ";s:4:"text";s:3462:" Visit us for exclusive Galen Center Special Events throughout the year! [45] PCs Peter Donald Barrett and David Charles Midgley, along with spectators Michael William Bland and Timothy Peter Leigh received the Queen's Commendation for Brave Conduct. Superbly handcrafted and hand-painted for incredible detailing, this masterpiece features fully sculpted figures of a firefighter, police officer, and EMT gleaming with a hand-applied metallic bronze finish. Interesting theory related to the cost of making the ground safe following promotion and the history of Stafford Heginbotham who's businesses were almost synonymous with fires and insurance claims. For the first-minute people were laughing and joking, it wasnt anything serious, he told the BBC in 2015. The director of that organisation, Dr David Woolley, was interviewed for just two hours by the inquiry team, and his private papers reveal his desperate rush to assemble information into a report for Popplewell. Robert Wedgeworth (72) Many were burnt to death at the turnstiles gates, which had also been locked after the match had begun. contact IPSO here, 2001-2023. One letter from the council said the problems "should be rectified as soon as possible"; a second said: "A carelessly discarded cigarette could give rise to a fire risk." I do not include the people currently running the club, who have always displayed a great, sensitive duty to the memory of those who died. Amanda Jayne Roberts (20) In March 1985 the club's plans became more apparent when it took delivery of steel for a new roof. 1 . Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? The horrible thing is reading that list the number of fatalities that were obviously families wiped out. Co-writer Matt Stevens-Woodhead had been asked to talk about the play to children at the local Parkside School a few weeks earlier and that had been the catalyst for Hazel Greenwood to return there too. by IanMcL Fri May 11, 2018 9:01 am, Post . Top. Elizabeth Muhl (21) [17], One witness saw paper or debris on fire, about nine inches (230mm) below the floor boards. As part of Bantamspast, Ian's actually hoping to dig a little deeper to find out just why some people choose to actively avoid Valley Parade completely on matchdays: "Perhaps we'll find out why they don't come. [27], Explaining his decision, Sir Joseph Cantley stated: "As I have already stated, the primary duty was on the Club and the functions of the County Council were supervisory and its liability is for negligent breach of a common law duty arising out of the way in which they dealt with or ignored their statutory powers. "Why is it coming out now? However, there is a lot in this book that troubles me about the science, or lack of it, used in the testing of the investigators' hypothesis as to the source of the ignition. All that was left of the. by groove Fri May 11, 2018 10:48 pm, Post by Maja Fri May 11, 2018 8:45 am, Post Ive alway respected the quiet and dignified way that the Tragedy has been marked by the Club, the Fans(of both Bradford and Lincoln), and by Bradfordians in general. Police worked until 4am the next morning, under lighting, to remove all the bodies. It was a massive tragedy for everybody at the club.". Agree with the above, the most horrific scenes ever seen at football. He survived but clearly his life was also shattered on that day. The files show how the possibility of arson was not even touched upon or tested. Anne Robinson (pictured with Mr Ormondroyd) moved into the family home near Bradford, West Yorkshire, to care for his wife Donna. Instead, there is nothing. John Hughes (64) David James Crabtree (30) The father whose attempts to make him a Bradford City fan he mischievously tried to resist, especially after the family's relocation to the detached surrounds of East Bridgford in Nottinghamshire turned the boy into a Nottingham Forest fan. Adrian Mark Wright (11). IN MEMORIAM. [12] The work was expected to cost 400,000 (1.3million today). [32] Speaking at the close of the case, the Judge said "They (the club) were at fault, no one in authority seemed to have appreciated the fire hazard. The 1984/85 season had been one of the most successful in Bradford City's 82-year history. Andrew Fletcher (11) The play reflects that it had been "the Yorkshire way" not to make a fuss, to bear a loss and move on. Within minutes the fire had spread through the stand due to the windy conditions with some fans claiming that they could feel their feet getting warmer as debris began to burn below them. Of all the Fletcher family who attended the game that day, 12-year old Martin was the only survivor. Two memorials now stand at Valley Parade, with another in the city centre and since that fateful day, Bradford City have played with black trim on their kit as a permanent memorial to those who lost their lives. Bradford Fire. It's with that in mind that Ian's Bantamspast project is underway in Bradford. ", On 26 January 2016, the IPCC declined calls for an investigation and published its full response online. The match was recorded by Yorkshire Television for their regional edition of the ITV Sunday afternoon football show The Big Match. A giant Christian cross, made up of two large charred wooden members[44] that had once been part of the stand, was constructed in front of the middle of the stand and behind the pitchside speaker's platform. Richard John Ormondroyd (12) Within a few hours of the blaze starting, it was established that 56 people had been killed, many as a result of smoke inhalation, although some of them had survived until reaching hospital.[11]. There are . [58] Following this report, Leslie Brownlie, who was the nephew in question, is reported to have said that his uncle never made such an admission of starting the fire. However, the fire had consumed the stand entirely by that point and they were faced with huge flames and very dense smoke. One man clambered over burning seats to help a fan,[18] as did player John Hawley,[15] and one officer led fans to an exit, only to find it shut and had to turn around. Bradford City have announced that the JCT600 Stand will be open today for fansto come and reflect on the tragedy and pay their respects. "[16] At the front of the stand, men threw children over the wall to help them escape. At 3.40pm, television commentator John Helm remarked upon a small fire in the main stand; in less than four minutes, with the windy conditions, the fire had engulfed the whole stand, trapping some people in their seats. Previous warnings had also been given about a major . In 1999, ex-professional footballer, Ian Ormondroyd, was asked by the Club to lead and grow the Foundation. JONES Elizabeth (Betty) On 6th February 2023 Betty passed away peacefully at Vida Hall Nursing. Edmond Fletcher (63) It detailed the safety work which would be carried out at Valley Parade as a result of the club's promotion, admitting the ground was "inadequate in so many ways for modern requirements". It's why he gravitated to London and the enclosed spaces, moving to Brixton when his first base became gentrified. No follow up question. Obviously helps cigarettes banned from football grounds now as IIRC a discarded butt caused the Bradford fire. talk all about the game and how big this win is for Ten Hag's men. They were immediately promoted back to the Football League in 1988, and survived for 23 years before being relegated again in 2011. by tiger76 Fri May 11, 2018 11:31 pm, Post ", Ian Ormondroyd is searching for Valley Parade memories, A Bradford landmark - and a focus for many memories. It's hard to avoid the sense that Fletcher might have done, had it not been for that fateful May afternoon, which took away so many of the buttresses of his life. Jane Sampson (18) 56 football fans went to watch a match at the Valley Parade football Ground this day 27 years ago, and didn't come back. That journey back to Lincoln was the quietest and most miserable I have ever known. Since then, it has been further re-developed and, today, Valley Parade is a modern 25,136 all-seater stadium, which is virtually unrecognisable from how it was at the time of the disaster, save for the original clubhouse that still stands beside the main stand, and the flank support wall that runs down the Hollywell Ash Lane at the "Bradford End". Middlesbrough, Cleveland, TS7. Hundreds of others were injured. Arthur Hartley (79) "When I read the Popplewell transcripts I could see they were processing 10-15 witnesses a day. He returned to Bradford City as football in the community officer, and also works as a commentator and match day summariser for Bradford City games with Pulse Radio. The list of victims reveals the impact the disaster had on families as fathers, sons, mothers, daughters, husbands and wives went to a football game that day never to come home again. Spare a thought or prayer for them today. ", Ian says he's hoping the Bantamspast project will look at a side of the club which hasn't been revealed before: "This is more about the fans, the people and the ground - even the people who don't come to the ground.". While Valley Parade was re-developed, Bradford City played games at various neighbouring grounds: Elland Road, Leeds; Leeds Road, Huddersfield; and Odsal Stadium, Bradford. Part of the Appeal funds were raised by a recording of "You'll Never Walk Alone"[42] from Rodgers and Hammerstein's musical Carousel by The Crowd (including Gerry Marsden of Gerry and the Pacemakers, who had recorded the 1963 version that led to Liverpool adopting it as their motto and team song), which reached number one in the UK Singles chart. Horrific scenes ever seen at football if you 're in a small town, it 's with that mind! Stand completely and left only burned seats, lamps and metal fences remaining breaks down `` have. 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