As we approach the anniversary of the fire at Bradford City's Valley Parade Stadium, on 11th May 1985, you may be thinking about ways in which you can take part in remembering and supporting the 56 victims, their families and friends, as well as the supporters, emergency services personnel and others affected by the events of that Saturday.
In 2022, I pre-recorded a short, ten-minute, video for an assembly at Beckfoot Thornton School in Bradford, which briefly tells the story of the day and remembers some of the people whose lives were lost and/or transformed that day. I have shared that recording below (slides with voiceover in Microsoft PowerPoint format) so you can use it with your pupils in assemblies or the classroom, to begin a discussion with them about why it is important to remember past tragedies and how they contain important lessons - about safety, community resilience, citizenship and empathy - for us all today.
Some of the questions you might want to ask pupils after watching the video include:
Why is it important to remember the fire?
How and why do we honour and commemorate the victims?
What can we do to remember the actions of people like 11-year-old Joanne or Mo who helped supporters and others with injuries on the day? What would you say to them if you met them today? Write them a letter or a postcard.
Which other groups and individuals would you to like to commemorate for their actions that day? Draw a picture of them, or write them a letter to say thank-you.
In addition to this, take a look at our other learning resources - the Story Map and Graphic Novel especially - as these encourage pupils to learn about the history and memory of the fire in creative and sensitive ways.
If you use any of these resources, do please get in touch and let me know how you used them and what the pupils learned from them. Feedback is very welcome and I'd be happy to come into your school and talk with pupils and teachers about other creative ways of learning around using stories of fire and burns.
Shane Ewen, May 2023