Like all areas of forensic investigations, it has come on leaps and bounds. [10] Of those who died, 11 were under-18 and 23 were aged 65 or over,[20] and the oldest victim was the club's former chairman, Sam Firth, aged 86. The majority of sales in Ormondroyd Avenue during the last year were semi-detached properties, selling for an average price of 130,000. Its always so disturbing to see things like this that could have been so easily avoided with a little care. His afternoon intersected with that of Preston, who was in an ambulance on his way to St Luke's hospital to be treated for burns when a 12-year-old was bundled aboard, concerned only at the moment to know "how did Leeds United get on" that day. 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. View Death Notice. 1985 disaster in Valley Parade Stadium, Bradford, England. I've never seen anything like it. For the first-minute people were laughing and joking, it wasnt anything serious, he told the BBC in 2015. The Weekly Gab: Lower league sides to watch in the FA Cup. by Pad1951 Fri May 11, 2018 9:15 am, Post All that was left of the. Police officers also assisted in the rescue attempts. Craig Albert Stockman (14) Bradford City Community Foundation is the community charity of Bradford City Football Club. Of all the Fletcher family who attended the game that day, 12-year old Martin was the only survivor. 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. Bradford City stadium fire: The untold stories of the 1985 fire that devastated Valley Parade Thirty years after football's 'forgotten tragedy', the truth of what exactly happened when 56. Scott Richard Advertisement The fire broke out around 10:30 a.m. at the site. William Stacey (72) [11], The fire escalated very rapidly, and flames became visible; police started to evacuate the stand. Leo Anthony Coxon (44) Amazing that just 18 days later the Heysel tragedy occured,a dark month for football. A further 265 fans were injured in the blazes that day, and describe. Men, women and children all helped. Watching it I asked myself why people didn't use the rear exits and what those late people were doing all that time, apparently the rear exits were boarded or padlocked. [53], In 1986, a year after the disaster, Yorkshire Television aired a documentary presented by John Helm entitled Bradford City A Year of Healing. It's why he gravitated to London and the enclosed spaces, moving to Brixton when his first base became gentrified. Bradford fan David Pendleton, then aged 21, was at the game that day in the main stand and remembers how something which initially appeared trivial quickly became a desperate situation. The aim is to preserve these memories for posterity as part of the club's museum at Valley Parade, together with a DVD, podcasts and more. RM 2F7YJ1C - Eccles, UK. 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. Ran home and put the television on." Bradford City Community Foundations Unheard Voices project is producing a book and 15-minute film on the residents experiences on that fateful day. Or as a football commentator for that matter. "Yes you've already told us you were concerned," the inquiry's QC effectively says, before he moves the conversation along. Bradford Township Volunteer Fire Department is raffling off a brand new truck to raise money to buy two brand new fire trucks. The Popplewell Inquiry found that the club had been warned about the fire risk that the rubbish accumulating under the stand had posed. Peter Greenwood (46) This is the kind of understated remembrance we have seen in Bradford these past few months, at the onset of another significant anniversary of the 1985 fire which tore across the local football club's old wooden main stand, reducing it to a collapsing inferno in a mere four minutes and claiming 56 lives. It's with that in mind that Ian's Bantamspast project is underway in Bradford. I don't see that. 15 Dec 2020. She said: Over the years, the story of the Bradford City fire has been told many times - the story of the supporters and the players, but one story that had never been told was the story of how the local people had helped. 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. They were even quite afraid of the football fans before the fire. Howard Malcolm Turner (41) by Herts Clarets Fri May 11, 2018 1:13 pm, Post Applying this 18.457% change to the original purchase price of 48,000 results in an estimated price of approximately 56,859. By the time they got back, the whole thing had taken off. [26], In July 1985, an inquest was held into the deaths; at the hearings the coroner James Turnbull recommended a death by misadventure outcome, with which the jury agreed. It was also a catalyst for the substantial redevelopment and modernisation of many British football grounds within the following thirty years. Simon Neil Ward (18) He is quoted as saying: "I don't believe the statement of retired Detective Inspector Raymond Falconer at all. Harold Mitchell (79) 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. Are you sure you want to delete this comment? [6], The 198485 season had been one of Bradford City's most successful seasons, ending with City clinching the championship title courtesy of a 20 victory against Bolton Wanderers in the penultimate game of the season. The theatre production moved on to London last week, its players and writers wondering as they packed up what the response would be, in the capital city, to a subject even less well known and understood beyond the Yorkshire boundaries. This early part of the narrative is so readable that you wonder how Fletcher, a qualified accountant, did not wind up as a writer. by tim_noone Thu May 10, 2018 11:53 pm, Post Supporters searched for fire extinguishers while the Police began to evacuate the stand withflames soon spreading to the roof and across the wooden steps as timber and other materials began to fall onto the crowd. Most of the fans who took this escape route were killed or seriously injured. Muriel Firth (56) It is important that we continue to promote these adverts as our local businesses need as much support as possible during these challenging times. They all ventured back. Down there in the blackness lay tissues of debris which were testament to the ramshackle stadium's neglect. Crowds on the pitch at the Valley Parade stadium after a stand caught fire Getty Images. The Independent Magazine's own investigations, at the National Archive at Kew, bear out the nagging suspicions Fletcher always had. A large fire broke out Thursday morning after an apparent explosion at a commercial building complex in Bradford. That was nothing compared with the time it took to interview witnesses in the Hillsborough Inquiry.". 10th Apr, 2021. And, before we knew it, the flames were racing down the whole stand. Which memorial do you think is a duplicate of Gerald Ormondroyd (201296072)? "I think the fire will play a big part in it. [36], In 2010, Susan Fletcher's son and survivor of the Bradford City fire (and witness to the Hillsborough disaster), Martin Fletcher, openly criticised the club's hierarchy at the time of the fire and the subsequent investigation. The tender that was won by the University of Bradford to create a LOD3 digital twin of the city will see the area shown within the following map captured. It's the Ormondroyd & Stockman names that get to me - both of them dad and two sons. Never seen the death roll that's horrendous the Ormondroyd family looks like Father and . [citation needed] Spectators later spoke of initially feeling their feet becoming warmer; one of them ran to the back of the stand for a fire extinguisher but found none. He starts trying to explain what happened when the smoke filled the stand and he can't do it, just breaks down. 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. One day I went to a football match with my family and the next day, I woke up and didnt have a father, a brother, or a grandfather or an uncle, he would later say. A Gannett Company. This user liked this post: claretjohn33505. Thoughts and prayers to the 56 who lost their lives in this truly awful and harrowing tragedy. The speed at which fire engulfs the entire stand is insane. contact the editor here. On a day that should have been one for celebration, Bantams captain Peter Jackson lifted the Division Three championship trophy before kick-off. While Valley Parade was re-developed, Bradford City played games at various neighbouring grounds: Elland Road, Leeds; Leeds Road, Huddersfield; and Odsal Stadium, Bradford. RIP. [48] Profits from the play's run at The Edinburgh Fringe were donated to the Bradford Burns Unit. We are trying to find people who came out of the ground and were helped by people in the community. Video via Citizen. "[37], Fletcher subsequently published a book in 2015, Fifty-Six: The Story of the Bradford Fire which revealed a history of fires at businesses owned by the Bradford City chairman Stafford Heginbotham. The way football is run is, and always has been, scandalous. The Documentary highlighted the 'poison pen letters' and graffiti targeted at the then club chairman Stafford Heginbotham over accusations that he was in some way personally responsible for the deaths of the 56 people who died at the fire.[54]. All you could see was a black cloud, all you could hear was sirens and screams and all you could smell was burning.. We were sat in our football kit, we didnt know what to do. 24 Bradford City A.F.C. Robert Wedgeworth (72) That stand went up so quick youd think it was made of petrol. [40] Matthew Wildman was 17 at the time and needed crutches to walk because of rheumatoid arthritis. Derek Dempsey (46) Then, in the space of 120-odd seconds, it really kicked in. [39], The club's chairman, Stafford Heginbotham, said: "It was to be our day". We couldnt run back down the tunnel. A charred copy of the local paper from Monday, 4 November 1968, was among the litter. Eric Hudson (72) They were immediately promoted back to the Football League in 1988, and survived for 23 years before being relegated again in 2011. The inquiry into the disaster, chaired by Sir Oliver Popplewell and known as the Popplewell Inquiry,[25] led to the introduction of new legislation to improve safety at the UK's football grounds. The Bradford City stadium fire was the worst fire disaster in the history of football. This page was last edited on 24 February 2023, at 13:41. by bfcmik Fri May 11, 2018 11:05 am, Post Nothing surprising in the construction of the stand to give this rate of fire growth," Woolley writes in an untitled script which appears to be his own notes from the first day of Popplewell's Inquiry. by tiger76 Fri May 11, 2018 11:31 pm, Post My mum said at the time of the Hillsborough Disaster, when it all came home to me, you're angry and the hate is eating you inside out.". Most of the exits at the back were locked or shut and there were no stewards present to open them, but seven were forced open or found open. "Sometimes, it's more of a social thing than a football thing.". [2] By 1911, his work was completed. William James West (78) The book also raises concerns about the speed of the inquiry and the fact that it commenced a few weeks after the fire and lasted for only a few days, whereas other inquiries into similar incidents, pre and post the Bradford fire, have taken years to come to fruition and months to be heard. [12] The work was expected to cost 400,000 (1.3million today). 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. A total of 56 fans died in the fire on May 11, 1985, in a match between Bradford City and Lincoln City, with around 265 more injured. Richard John Ormondroyd (12) Horrendous. . The Bradford City stadium fire occurred during a Football League Third Division match on Saturday, 11 May 1985 at the Valley Parade stadium in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, killing 56 spectators and injuring at least 265. Ian Ormondroyd, Bantamspast From the tragic fire at Valley Parade in May 1985 to the club's slide from the Premier League to administration in more recent years, people will obviously have many. To take part in the project, email paula.helliwell@gmail.com by December 16. Following his own 15 year investigation Into the fire, which killed four of his family members while he escaped, former tax accountant Martin Fletcher released 56: The Story of the Bradford Fire (2015). 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.. But Ms Ibrahim saw her husband on her TV set, on the Valley Parade half way line, helping stretcher some of the injured away to safety. Whenever I read the roll call of the dead of this tragedy, and its inherent tales of familial loss, it truly brings a lump to my throat. There actually used to be an old saying in Bradford: "If you see smoke go up in Bradford after 6pm, that'll be one of Stafford's." [10] One eyewitness, Geoffrey Mitchell, told the BBC: "It spread like a flash. It was the brainchild of Bradford City fan Lloyd Spencer with all profits going to the Bradford Royal Infirmary Burns Unit.[43]. ", On 26 January 2016, the IPCC declined calls for an investigation and published its full response online. After its renovation in 1990 they named the home end of their ground the 'Stacey-West Stand', in honour of Bill Stacey and Jim West, the two Lincoln City supporters who were amongst the 56 to die at Bradford. It is Mrs Ibrahim's sentiment which seems to be most prevalent in Manningham, the British Asian district bordering Valley Parade, where many locals took injured and traumatised people into their homes that day. 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. And so it has been that while Liverpool supporters' refusal to accept the received narrative of Hillsborough the stadium disaster 40 miles north across Yorkshire in which 96 died has made it a source of anger and liberation at the heart of the national consciousness, Bradford became the forgotten tragedy. For the 30th anniversary of the fire a new version of "You'll Never Walk Alone" was recorded at Voltage Studios in Bradford. Elizabeth JONES. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Bradford City players, staff and fans gathered today to remember the victims of the Valley Parade fire, which took place exactly 31 years ago. (2015), 2003 Football League Third Division play-off final, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bradford_City_stadium_fire&oldid=1141323458, Fire disasters involving barricaded escape routes, Pages containing London Gazette template with parameter supp set to y, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles with unsourced statements from October 2010, Articles with unsourced statements from October 2021, Articles needing additional references from May 2018, All articles needing additional references, Articles needing additional references from December 2018, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Fan attempted to extinguish a lit cigarette, it slipped through floorboards and fell on rubbish, igniting it. Regional Scout (North): Ray Mathias. Whether they don't feel welcome, for instance. Remembering the Bradford fire. 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. That journey back to Lincoln was the quietest and most miserable I have ever known. The residents also helped take victims to hospital. So many youngsters died..very very sad. Whether they don't feel welcome, for instance. Some of those back in Bradford have not welcomed his turning over of the stones. RIP. This Forum is the main messageboard to discuss all things Claret and Blue and beyond . The horrific scenes of people burning alive seemed to live on in an eerie silence as daylight broke over the remains of Bradford City Football Club's ground yesterday. The local Bradford Telegraph and Argus has found many voices to challenge his testimony, too. 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. The 1985 Bradford City A.F.C stadium fire is regarded as one of the worst disasters in the history of British football. [52], On 1 May 2010, to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the fire the football TV show Football Focus was hosted from Valley Parade by Dan Walker, the show included interviews with Terry Yorath and John Hendrie. It's good that they're all remembered. Lincoln City suffered two successive relegations, first to the Fourth Division in 1986, and again in 1987, becoming the first team to be automatically relegated from the Football League itself. Ian Ormondroyd (born 22 September 1964) is an English former professional footballer who made more than 350 appearances in the Football League and Premier League. Gerald tragically died in the Bradford City stadium fire on 11th May 1985 along with his sons, Richard and Robert. Two or three burly men put their weight against it and smashed the gate open. "Thank you. He and his mother rattled around in the beautiful detached Nottingham home afterwards and the place "was almost mocking you, like the birds in the trees," he says. As you said, Herts. The House Price Index as of 1 Sep 2022 is 153.4 which is a change of 18.457%. The files show how the possibility of arson was not even touched upon or tested. 56 fans died as a fire broke out at the game at Valley Parade, 54 Bradford supporters and two from opponents Lincoln City. Data returned from the Piano 'meterActive/meterExpired' callback event. The other, situated by the main entrance, was donated by the club after its 7.5million (13million today) rebuilding of the original main stand in 2002. [7] As it was the first piece of league silverware that the club had captured since they won the Division Three (North) title 56years earlier, 11,076supporters were in the ground. Obviously helps cigarettes banned from football grounds now as IIRC a discarded butt caused the Bradford fire. I remember watching it unfold on tv, it was heartbreaking. Another player went into the office space to ensure there was nobody there. [citation needed] Mathew Wildman, aged 17 at the time of the fire, commented that "I must have had five different experiments carried out on me with all sorts of new techniques for skin grafts and I had potions injected into me that helped my face repair naturally over time. The project, which began in February this year, is now looking to hear from residents who helped with the rescue effort on the day. There was talk of "a raincoat smell" about 15.40pm that afternoon, as the fire took hold. Andrew Fletcher (11) He lit a cigarette and when it was coming to an end he put it down on to the floorboard and tried to put his foot on it to put it out. The project, which began in February this year, is now. ORMONDROYD, Richard John 12 Bingley ORMONDROYD, Robert Ian 12 Bingley POLLARD, Sylvia Lund 69 Bradford PRICE, Herbert 78 Shipley . The most horrific scenes ever on tv. The boy Fletcher discovered soon enough how boundlessly and profoundly life-affecting the afternoon would prove to be. It was nearly double the season's average of 6,610 and included 3,000fans in the ground's main stand. You could hardly breathe. It's gone," he says. 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. It was a terrible, terrible tragedy and one which I often think about and certainly will never forget.. He was actually one of the detectives involved in one of the gravest miscarriages of justices in the country, the murder of Carol Wilkinson in Bradford, where someone was locked up for 20 years for a murder he didn't commit."[60]. It was on the 10th anniversary of the fire, 20 years ago, that Mrs Greenwood set up a fund, in the memory of her sons, offering the chance for young people in this place to take a journey of educational or cultural travel as she would have wanted her own two to do. Crews received a call to Stirling Crescent west of Highway 400 around 12:25 a.m. Saturday from a. by Silkyskills1 Fri May 11, 2018 1:36 pm, Post Never seen the death roll that's horrendous the Ormondroyd family looks like Father and his two twins. ANDERTON, Edmund, 68, Bingley "A football club's an integral part of the city you're in. And there are also repeated references to the smell of burning plastic. Walter Kerr (76) A minute later he saw a small plume of smoke so he poured his coffee on it and so did his son. Chartered Management Degree at the University of Bradford, alongside working full time in an equally . Edmond Fletcher (63) [34], During the case, Sir Joseph Cantley stated that: "It is only right that I should say that I think it would be unfair to conclude that Heginbotham, Tordoff, the Board of Directors, or any of them, were intentionally and callously indifferent to the safety of spectators using the stand. First-Team Therapist: Nick Akerman. The drawing date is Jan. 1, 2023. Two men were critically injured in an explosion and fire at a commercial building in Bradford, New Hampshire, on Thursday. At Valley Parade there are now two memorials. Tickets are $20 each, and all proceeds will go toward funding the purchase of two new twin custom KME fire trucks for the department.. by tim_noone Thu May 10, 2018 11:42 pm, Post A massive fire broke out at a factory in Bradford this morning 11 Footage shows flames erupting from the factory 11 The blaze broke out in the early hours of this morning Credit: Ben. ", Bantamspast The JCT600 Stand will be open as well during the day to give fans the opportunity for some quiet reflection on this day of remembrance. However, the responsibility of the Club is, in my view, very much the greater and I apportion responsibility between the two defendants as to two-thirds on the first defendant and one-third on the third (sic) defendant. RF 2FMDJ1J - Jake Trueman (6) of Castleford Tigers is tackled by Jack Ormondroyd (25) of Salford Red Devils. I was there 3 weeks before with Burnley. 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. March 3, 2022. Since 1903, when the club was formed, Bradford City Association Football Club had played their home games at the ground. We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. Family Members . As CT mentioned earlier it is seeing the names of family groups who perished that day,having just probably set off as normal from home around lunch time for not just the game but the joy and excitement of a promotion party, that really gets to me. Start your Independent Premium subscription today. 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. ", 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.". [3], At the age of 33, Ormondroyd retired from football due to arthritis in his left ankle.[4]. Some of those who died were still sitting upright in their seats, covered by remnants of tarpaulin that had fallen from the roof. Others werent so lucky and headed towards the exits at back of the stands which had been locked after kick-off and this is where the many of those who died perished in the inferno. There were no extinguishers in the stand's passageway for fear of vandalism, and one spectator ran to the clubhouse to find one but was overcome by smoke and impeded by others trying to escape. The fans even say, 'I'm not particularly liking what I'm seeing on the field at the moment, but I enjoy the company of Billy and John'. [15], At 3:44pm, five minutes before half-time, the first sign of a firea glowing lightwas noticed three rows from the back of block G,[10][16] as reported by television commentator John Helm. The money raised from this record was contributed to fund the internationally renowned burns unit that was established in partnership between the University of Bradford and Bradford Royal Infirmary, immediately after the fire, which has also been Bradford City's official charity for well over a decade. Frederick Hindle (76) Lincoln City's board responded by committing 1.1million (3.5million today) to their ground's renovation in the year that immediately followed the fire at Valley Parade, and over the following decade made improvements that eventually totalled 3million. Alexander Shaw Baines (70) [8][9] In the crowd were local dignitaries and guests from three of Bradford's twin townsVerviers in Belgium, and Mnchengladbach and Hamm in West Germany. It seemed to put it out. Forest Green new stadium going to be made out of wood. As he received the injured at Bradford Royal Infirmary he was able to call upon 10% of the UK's population of plastic surgeons. Probably the most horrific scenes I have ever seen in football. Samuel Firth (86) Today we remember the 56 fans who tragically lost their lives in the Bradford fire disaster 31 years ago. "That made me angry: that people don't know about this.". Performance Analyst: Scott Dyer. Firefighters from across West Yorkshire tackle huge blaze A large fire involving thousands of scrap tyres has forced schools to close and caused traffic disruption in Bradford. Jane Sampson (18) Nellie Forster (64) by groove Fri May 11, 2018 10:48 pm, Post The deaths were preventable . "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.". Peter Charles Lovell (43) The match was recorded by Yorkshire Television for their regional edition of the ITV Sunday afternoon football show The Big Match. I once stumbled across the radio commentary from that day on YouTube. The playing area and stands were very basic but the ground had enough room for 18,000spectators. As a result, Bradford-born captain Peter Jackson was presented with the league trophy before the final game of the season with mid-table Lincoln City at Valley Parade on 11 May 1985. Yeah footage is horrendous isn't it. Spare a thought or prayer for them today. The men with no hair feeling the searing pain first; supporters entering hospital with their hands melted to their heads by the asphalt which has leaked from the stadium roof; a fan's trilby hat igniting. [19] One fan put his jumper over a fellow supporter's head to extinguish flames. The smoke was choking. He later said: "I have never known anything like it, either before, or since. 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. David James Crabtree (30) "When I read the Popplewell transcripts I could see they were processing 10-15 witnesses a day. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused. When a memorial service was held on the pitch later in summer, part of it was in Urdu and Punjabi in recognition. Newsquest Media Group Ltd, Loudwater Mill, Station Road, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. "I was out shopping in Bradford and he had gone to the match," she says. "Why should they not still want answers?" [10][11], Bradford's Telegraph & Argus newspaper published a souvenir issue for 11 May, entitled, "Spit and Polish for the Parade Ground". There was a documentary on local Yorkshire TV a couple of years ago, the guy who does the weather reports here was at the game as a youngster.

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