Spreading the Word: Radio Show on Hillsborough Disaster
0Thursday, April 09, 2009 by Paul Grech
There seems to be a real upsurge of national interest in the Hillsbrough disaster with a number of documentaries focusing on this tragedy, not least the one on the History channel that is to be screened on the day of the anniversary.
The BBC is also getting in the act, even if only on the radio, with a show to be aired next Sunday on BBC Radio 4 at 11:15am with a repeat on the 17th of April at 9am. Hopefully, all this will lead to greater knowledge on what happened on the day as well as a shift in the wheels of justice:
This is an extract from the press release on the show:
"In the second programme of the award-winning Radio 4 series The Reunion, Sue MacGregor is joined by five people who were involved in the Hillsborough disaster, which resulted in the death of 96 Liverpool football fans.
The fans died as the result of a terrace crush at an FA Cup semi final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest, 20 years ago, on 15 April 1989.
The tragedy at Hillsborough was the worst spectator disaster in the history of British sport and resulted in widespread change in the design and safety of British sports stadia.
The fatal terrace crush at the Sheffield Wednesday ground was ostensibly caused by a human tide of fans being swept along a sloping tunnel onto two already full "pens" which were blocked to the side and front by perimeter fencing. Fans at the front were crushed or trampled.
Sue MacGregor is joined by Jenni Hicks, who went to the game with her husband, Trevor, and teenage daughters Victoria, 19, and Sarah, 15, who both died. "We went as a family but came back a couple," recalls Jenni.
Another mother, Margaret Aspinall, vice chair of the Hillsborough Family Support Group, lost her 18-year-old son, James, who was attending his first Liverpool away game.
Colin Moneypenny, who survived the crush, describes the "utter chaos" of being "carried off my feet for 30 to 40ft" along the Leppings Lane tunnel to within 10ft of the front perimeter fence.
Paramedic Tony Edwards was in the first vehicle to treat injured fans on the pitch. He still suffers feelings of trauma and guilt for driving away instead of staying to help others.
Dr Rogan Taylor was chairman of the Football Supporters Association at the time of Hillsborough and is now a professor at the University of Liverpool's Football Research Centre.
Presenter: Sue MacGregor CBE
Producer: Chris Green
The Reunion is a Whistledown. production for BBC Radio 4"
Category Hillsborough, Spreading the Word
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