BY STEVE GORRINGE
“Sometimes in life football takes a back seat...”
W
e at Bradford City are rapidly approaching the unfortunate 25th anniversary of that tragic day at Valley Parade on the 11th May 1985 when fire swept through the main stand in less than four minutes and claimed the lives of 56 people, and injuring hundreds more. As a result of this, a special unit was set up by Professor David Sharp to look into the treatment of burn and other plastic surgery treatment methods. This unit is known as the Bradford Burns Unit, based at the University of Bradford. However it is facing closure and we at BCFC, in conjunction with the T&A, are trying to raise a massive £100,000 to keep the unit open. A committee has been set up and all manner of events have started to take place already the fund stands at over £15,000 and of course all different sponsored events are taking place. Our joint chairman, Mark Lawn, is of course embarking on a sponsored slim and vows that if he doesn’t lose weight he’ll donate a sizable sum of money to the unit, so if you see Mark out and about (you can’t miss him) slip him a big bag of chips. Shipley Bantams have teamed up with Saltaire Brewery who launched a beer on the 27th November which will attract a donation for every pint drunk. An evening at the brewery saw ex City legend John Hendrie pull the first pint, so if you’re in as pub and see a beer called
BANTAM BLONDE have a few beers and help a great cause. Road signs are our next venture. A sign with the BCFC crest and the name of the stadium and street, would look great on a child’s bedroom wall. They will retail at around £10 but, for an extra £5, you can have them signed by Stuart McCall, these signs are being manufactured at the moment, so look out for them around Valley Parade in the next month. Two of our members Martin and Steven Stewart who live in Keighley - walk to every home game and this season it is hoped that on the last home game hundreds more will walk with them collecting donations on the way. We are to host a fund raising night at The Shipley Club on Saturday 16th January - let’s hope the Bantam Blonde goes down well that night, being teetotal I love nights like that as I’m the only one able to remember what happened. Lots of other fund raising ideas are being processed and I’m sure you’ll all hear about them in due course, so if you have any ideas and would like to help out please give us a shout. All those on the Internet can visit the Shipley Bantams Website and log on to our memorial page where all the details can be found - www.theshippers.co.uk Going on from the 25th anniversary, it is forgotten that the game played that day was to celebrate our promotion from the old 3rd division and our manager at the moment played that day.
So what a fitting tribute it would be if, on the anniversary of 11th May, we could look back on the season in the knowledge we had obtained promotion - which would be a great tribute to those fans who sadly perished that day. So onto this season and the task we face. Well it’s not quite like the 1984/85, season which saw a bunch of youngsters with the odd experienced player taking us to the top of the league with a 3-1 victory against Millwall at VP on a cold November night, but this squad of youngsters seem to be progressing well. It really is a joy to watch them play, even in defeat we applaud them off the field - like the home game against Crewe in October when the whole ground joined in the acknowledgement to the players. Long may our style of football continue and let’s hope the youngsters keep progressing at the rate theyhave been. Earlier in the season it was great to catch up with a wonderful man - Bill Walsh, an Internet friend from New Zealand who left England for the other side of the world back in the early 50s. He’s still City through and through and it was a complete pleasure to listen to his tales of supporting City as a youngster. Bill joined the Bantams Beak team on BCB radio 106.6 fm to give us an insight into what it’s like supporting a team from afar. You too can listen to the ramblings of the Shipley crew on match days at around 1.30pm having a reet good moan!
Sport & Motoring
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