Hundreds gather to remember victims of Bradford fire 30 years on
The 56 football fans who died when a devastating fire ripped through Bradford City's Valley Parade ground 30 years ago have been remembered at ceremonies in the city.
ITV News Correspondent Ben Chapman reports.
Current and former players were joined by relatives of those killed or injured, fans and civic dignitaries in Bradford's Centenary Square for a minute's silence and a service to remember the horrific events of 11 May 1985.
The service, which is held every year in the centre of the city, had an extra poignancy coming 30 years after the accident.
Fire engulfed the wooden main stand at Valley Parade ground shortly before half-time as the home team played Lincoln City in the final match of the season where Bradford had been crowned Division Three champions.
What should have continued as a day of celebration turned into a nightmare that left 54 City supporters and two Lincoln fans dead and more than 200 people taken to hospital. The effects of that fateful day are still being felt today.
Georgie Dempsey-Moore, 46, lost her father Derek Dempsey in the disaster. He was the same age as she is now, she said.
"It is really humbling to see just how wonderfully the city of Bradford is remembering and I know that when I'm not here any more, this will still be remembered and dad will live on forever," she said.
Mrs Dempsey-Moore, who was 16 in 1985, recalled that she would have been in the stand with her father but she could not go to the game because she went to a youth club disco the night before and had not finished her homework.
She said: "There is part of me that is still a little girl missing her dad."
Speaking to ITV News before the ceremony, the editor of the club fanzine City Gent, Mike Harrison, said that he thought the nature of the commemorations had changed this year.
"We've heard many more stories surrounding acts of heroism," Harrison said. "It's been good that people have come forward and have been able to focus on that. Some people have dealt better with that than others.
"Thirty is just a number for the people of Bradford. it doesn't matter that much, we just get on with it but what has also been good is that it's told the story to a new generation of people."
As part of the commemoration, the bells of the City Hall clock tolled once for each person who lost their life in the tragedy while the names of each one of the 56 supporters were read out by the Bantams manager Phil Parkinson, City skipper Stephen Darby, TV commentator John Helm, who described the unfolding tragedy 30 years ago, and Shaun Harvey, the chief executive of The Football League and former City chief executive.
A minute's silence was followed by You'll Never Walk Alone played by The City of Bradford Brass Band and sung by Opera North soprano, Victoria Sharp.
A number of wreaths were laid including the Lord Mayor of Bradford laid a wreath on behalf of the city and district, the Mayor of Lincoln, club representatives from Bradford City, family members of the supporters lost in the tragedy, officers from the West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service, plus the Oberburgermeister of Hamm - the German city twinned with Bradford.
Mike Thompson, chairman of the Bradford City Supporters Club, said: "I think the hardest thing for people to recognise, to be honest, is just how much it still impacts on people today.
"As far as the people of Bradford are concerned, it's something we will never forget and it's good this year that there's been so much support around the football community. It's tremendous."
A brief memorial service was held later at the Coral Windows Stadium and the JCT600 Main Stand was also opened to allow supporters time to pause and reflect within the stadium.
The 1985 inquiry into the tragedy headed by Sir Oliver Popplewell concluded that it was an accident, probably started by a spectator dropping a cigarette into rubbish that had accumulated under an old timber stand.
However, this year's build-up to the anniversary has been overshadowed by a new book which claims that the fire was one of nine that occurred at businesses owned or linked to the club's then chairman Stafford Heginbotham.
Sir Oliver said he stands by his ruling, saying there was no evidence of arson.
The new claims are contained in the book Fifty-Six - The Story Of The Bradford Fire by Martin Fletcher who escaped from the blaze but his 11-year-old brother was the fire's youngest victim while his father John, 34, uncle Peter, 32, and grandfather Eddie, 63, also died.
The book does not make any direct allegations but Mr Fletcher, who was 12 at the time, says Mr Heginbotham's history with fires warranted further investigation.
Mr Heginbotham died in 1995. Mr Heginbotham's son James, 47, has dismissed the claims as ''just absolutely ridiculous''.