Warm Weekend & Hillsborough Book

It's been a fabulous weekend. The temperatures were in the 50-60's and it was calm and sunny. We had all kinds of DIY planned but basically did nothing but play outside with the boys and they have had a great time.

I did get to finish my book though - (not the George Bush one - I was half-way through when the library made me take it back and wouldn't let me renew as there was a waiting list for it). No, I just finished "When you walk through a storm" by Anne Williams & Sean Smith. Anne is from Formby (just a few miles from my hometown) and her 15-year old son Kevin died at the Hillsborough disaster in 1989. She's been fighting ever since for the right information about his death. It's interesting that just this month, an independent panel have said they'll revisit all of the documents about the disaster and report back in 2012.

For those of you that don't know about it, 96 Liverpool soccer fans died in Hillsborough Stadium when police opened the wrong gates and directed scores of fans down a tunnel into the stands. In those days, the stands were standing room only and fenced in, like pens, to prevent fans from fighting. At Hillsborough, so many people were crammed into the pens that many got crushed and killed. In the enquiry that followed, the police were blamed for causing the accident but the coroner stated that all deaths took place before 3.15 pm. This meant that there was no enquiry as to what happened after 3.15pm. As Anne has since found out, her son lived until 4pm and could have been saved if medical staff were on hand but they weren't. 42 ambulances were sat outside the stadium but were refused entry by the police. Only one ambulance forced it's way through. Her son died in a policewoman's arms and he said the word "mum" before he died. Heartbreaking stuff. The coroner also stated that Kevin died of a crushed chest but she has medical doctors that agree he died from an injured neck (possibly trampled on) that swelled and cut off his oxygen supply. The 3.15pm cut off and the chest injury mean that his death was deemed an accident and there was no accountability of police actions after 3.15pm.

Anyway, the beginning of the book ripped my heart out and made me cry several times but then I got into all of the legalities of it and I enjoyed reading about the cover-up and Anne's fight, frustrating though it is. I am truly amazed at how persistent she is. A mothers love is like no other! Let's hope that she gets some justice in 2012.