Day of victory turns to day of mourning

Press, 14 May 1985, Page 10

Day of victory turns to day of mourning

Bradford’s Lord Mayor, Mr Olive Messer, has launched a disaster fund for victims of the football stand fire, and the City Council has set up a help line for stricken families.

The vast majority of the dead and injured were believed to be from the Bradford area, although some Lincoln City supporters are missing.

Seventy people are still unaccounted for and the police have urged people who went to the match and got home safely to advise them.

One thousand people crowded into Bradford Cathedral yesterday for a special memorial service. They heard the Bishop of Bradford, the Right Rev. Roy Williamson, speak of a city “devastated by a triumph that has turned so suddenly and cruelly to tragedy.” “A day of victory was turned into a day of mourning for the people,” he said. Bradford City should have been celebrating its promotion to the second division with a civic reception yesterday. Ironically it was to have played a charity match against the very firemen called to the blaze. Many yesterday were

coming to terms with their loss. The family of Moira Hodgson, a schoolgirl, aged 16, who served tea from a kiosk at the back of the stand, had virtually given up hope of her being found. “So long has elapsed it is hard to believe she could be safe somewhere,” said her father, Jeffrey Hodgson.

Tributes continued to pour in for the rescuers — police, fire crews, and ambulance staff as well as ordinary football fans — who risked their own lives to save others.

There was heartfelt praise for the doctors, nurses, volunteers, and even retired staff who rushed in to help tend the injured as soon as they heard of the disaster.

Two Bradford policemen are among those waiting plastic surgery at St Luke’s Hospital, Bradford; David Brittan, aged 41, seen on television with his hair on fire, and Glyn Leesing, aged 28.

Most injuries followed a definite pattern; burns to hands, scalp, and backs of legs.

“I would say that they were probably turning away and debris from the burning roof was falling onto their heads,” said a top surgeon,

Mr David Sharpe. He is helping to lead the team of surgeons who have begun operating on the 20 or 30 people who need delicate and lengthy surgery. The Lincoln City trainer and physiotherapist, Bert Locksley, helped to rescue several spectators.

“The worst experience was when I saw an old gentleman trying to get out covered in flames and I could not get near him,” he said yesterday. “That sight will be with me for the rest of my life. I still cannot grasp that I watched people die.” Constable Robin Spruyt, aged 37, described how he and colleagues pulled people over the top of the stand and then ran to the back when they heard people were trapped. “When we were there this ball of flame just shot

across the roof. It was only seconds before a small fire turned to a raging inferno. We just turned and ran,” he said. “All jve could hear was the roar of flames.”

A supporters’ club official, Patsy Hollinger, told how he helped hurl young children to the safety of the pitch.

“There were kids in the stand and people were throwing them to us and we were throwing them onto the pitch. We were throwing people over the walls. There was just no time.” Police . Superintendent Barry Osborne, his face blistered and head bandanged, described how hardened officers wept helplessly as they watched people burn.