Service to honour soccer fire victims

CANDLES will be lit during a special service to remember those killed and injured in the Bradford City soccer fire disaster 25 years ago

Bradford Cathedral, in collaboration with Bradford City, is marking the 25th anniversary of the fir with a Service of Remembrance on Tuesday, May 11, at 7.30pm.

It will be attended by invited guests including members of the team's management and players, and other invited guests.

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The cathedral will also be open from 8.30am until 5.30pm, a candle burning under the memorial plaque in the North Transept, for anyone wishing to spend quiet time in prayer.

A bell will toll at 3.40pm, the time the fire was first noticed, and half-muffled bells will be rung before the service starts.

The cathedral Dean, the Very Rev Dr David Ison, will lead the service which has been arranged to complement a separate public memorial event being held in the morning in Centenary Square.

The cathedral service will include the lighting of 57 candles, 56 to remember each person who died in the fire, and one for all those injured, in body or mind, on that terrible day.

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A spokeswoman for Bradford Cathedral said: "This service will be a quiet affair when we hope members of the families affected will help light the 57 candles during the service."

The fire broke out during a match between Bradford City and Lincoln City at Valley Parade, on May 11, 1985, on the day that the home team were supposed to have celebrated winning the Football League Third Division trophy.

At the cathedral service a local newspaper reporter who was there on the day with his two sons will talk about his personal experience of the day and the effect of the fire on the wider community and Ben Miranda will speak about the achievements and aspirations of the hospital burns unit.

All are welcome to attend, and for more details please contact the cathedral office on 01274 777720.

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