10 years ago today this article on our good fortune to have Flav, Bernie and the Mittals on board. How did it all go so wrong?... http://qprreport.proboards.com/thread/10821#ixzz1m3krEkL1
ON THIS DAY 1995: The Lansdowne Riot, 4500 English fans began throwing debris towards the Irish fans. This saw the game abandoned. The riot carried on, on the streets of Dublin. please log in to view this image
Bit late with this, yesterday 1981 ( 37th anniversary) fire in Stardust niteclub Dublin kills 48 teens and 20 year olds, fire exits had been chained up to prevent gatecrashers, six of my near neighbours killed including 3 from the same family, RIP
25 years ago today Bobby Moore, arguably our greatest ever defender, and the only Englishman to lift the World Cup passed away at 51. Funny how West Ham treated him like a leper when he was alive but claim him as their own now...
On this day in 1977 the IRA murdered Robert Mitchell, 68. 2 IRA murderers held his sisters, 72 & 89, captive for 1& 1/2 hours near Newry. They watched TV waiting for him to return home&shot the vice-chair of S Down UUP in hall. 89 yr old sister punched when she challenged killer
Nothing those bastards did ever surprises me. A good friend of mine lost her father in 1982, he was a sergeant in the RUC. They hid in his front garden and when he came home shot him dead on his doorstep. No matter what they might think they achieved Adams and McGuinness should rot in hell...
On this day 75 years ago, the worst civilian disaster of World War 2 occurred. 173 people-mostly women and children- lost their lives on the staircase at Bethnal Green tube station. please log in to view this image The underground shelter at Bethnal Green had saved many lives during the Blitz: but on the evening of March 3rd 1943, things would go catastrophically wrong. 500 people were already sheltering underground there when the air raid siren sounded at 8.17 pm. please log in to view this image Locals grabbed bedding and essentials and headed for the shelter, on buses or on foot. It was a cold,rainy night. Around 1500 people had made their way down the dimly-lit staircase when, at 8.27pm, an anti-aircraft rocket salvo was discharged at nearby Victoria Park. This was a new weapon, previously unheard in the area, & terrifyingly loud. The crowd surged- there was no wild panic, just an understandable urge to take cover from what they believed was a German bombing raid. On the 3rd step from the bottom a woman carrying a child tripped. please log in to view this image That was all it took. Within about 30 seconds, the staircase had become a ‘charnel house’ as people fell on top of one other and were trapped and suffocated. Joseph Walker was 8: ‘I got pushed down the stairs in a wave but luckily my head stayed clear so I could breathe... ‘It was a long time before we were pulled out. So many were dead around me but someone saw my hand move...’ Joseph was in hospital recovering for 9 months with damage to his spleen, arms & neck. At nearby Queen Elizabeth Children’s Hospital in Hackney, junior doctor Joan Martin, aged 27, was on duty in Casualty. The phone rang at 8.45 pm, and they were told to get ready to receive 30 children who had ‘fainted’ at a tube station. please log in to view this image When the first body was brought in, mauve-complexioned from asphyxiation, they were unprepared. Body after body followed- all children- with the occasional survivor. The senior Dr in charge was unable to cope & had to go off duty- Joan was left in charge with 2 medical students. They worked all night. 12 hours later Joan went off duty, sworn to secrecy about what she’d seen. She thought the event would be in the news, listening out for radio broadcasts over the next few days. Nothing: she realised there had been a complete media blackout. Why the news blackout? For morale purposes; but the local Council had also long been asking the Government for safety improvements at the shelter- which were refused. There were early attempts to blame the victims for ‘panic’. For some, this is another Hillsborough. What’s certain is that the inability to talk about it made the trauma of survivors far worse. Dr Joan Martin had nightmares about it throughout her life. She didn’t speak about Bethnal Green for *50 years*. Then, by chance, she met another survivor... He told her a plaque was finally being unveiled, & she should come to the ceremony. Her response? ‘No chance!’ After all those years she didn’t want to deal with the memories. But somehow, she found herself there... please log in to view this image She went to every annual memorial service thereafter, and when the ‘Stairway to Heaven’ memorial was unveiled last year, she cut the ribbon,aged 102! This is Joan with youngest survivor Margaret McKay, a baby on that terrible night... please log in to view this image Sadly Joan died in January, after an extraordinary life of dedicated service to others- she was awarded an MBE for work with disabled children. All the victims & survivors will be remembered on Monday on the Robert Elms ( QPR fan ) BBC Radio London show along with Joan’s biographer Joy Puritz. please log in to view this image Adapted from a Twitter thread by historian Louise Raw. @LouiseRawAuthor
