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Two-minute silence as city marks the anniversary quietly
SHEFFIELD will mark tomorrow's 20th anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster quietly.
Those who died were visitors to the city and the grieving, the campaigning, the anger and the remembrance has always been focused on Merseyside.
READ MORE: 'Disaster had big influence on government's policies'
But for those who live in the terraced streets which surround the Leppings Lane end of the ground, who let hundreds of shell-shocked fans into their homes, it was very much a Sheffield disaster.
One woman, who lives in Vere Road, off Leppings Lane, near the end of the stadium where the tragedy happened, today recalled how they helped Liverpool fans who survived the disaster.
She said some residents have since been unfairly portrayed by some fans as "off-hand and nasty".
The woman said: "We all let them come in to make phone calls home so their families knew they were alright.
"We even took numbers off some of them and offered to phone relatives on their behalf so they could make their way home."
She added: "We helped quite a lot of Liverpool fans but it's been said the people round here weren't nice to them.
"We were accused of being off-hand and nasty, which is simply not true."
The resident is one of a dwindling number in the area who remember the disaster. Most others have moved on during the last two decades, their old homes now occupied by young couples or families.
On the fateful afternoon, she recalled how she was at her home while her husband, a nurse, was at work.
She said: "Here, you live your lives by whether there's a match on. If there is, you don't drive out anywhere, or else there are no spaces when you get back.
"It's still the same now."
Although the ground is just beyond her back garden, houses on the street are surprisingly insulated from the sound of the crowds by the concrete walls of the stands.
The woman did not find out about what was happening until she received a phone call from her husband.
She said: "He rang and said 'What's going on at the ground? Something terrible has happened – go and find out and ring us'.
"I walked to the top of the road and the memory that has always stayed with me was how quiet it was.
"Some people started running out.
"They were Liverpool followers, shouting 'the police have caused this'.
"But I think the police were unfairly blamed.
"Some Liverpool fans ran down late and, if the police hadn't opened the gate to let them inside, there would have been a crush outside and people would still have been killed or injured."
Those who consoled and treated the scores of the confused, injured and bereaved across Sheffield will also never forget the day.
Sue Lawson rallied the congregation of the nearby St John The Baptist Church.
Her late husband, the Rev David Bottley, opened up the local Boys' Club to help confused families and when that became overwhelmed he opened up the church's Memorial Hall and then his vicarage.
She said: "The response was amazing. It was an emergency and everyone responded remarkably. They brought food and blankets and whatever else we asked for."
Mrs Lawson, along with other volunteers, stayed at the Memorial Hall and she remembers sitting with a woman who had lost a 17-year-old boy.
"I had a 17-year-old as well at the time," she said. "I was there, dishing out soup, crying with her."
Another man who remembered the efforts at the Boys' Club said: "You think things like that don't affect you but they do.
"I remember on the Monday at work really snapping at a guy for no reason and realised it was the frustration of not being able to do more."
After consultation with the Liverpool families' organisations, there will be no formal ceremony at the stadium.
The Leppings Lane end of the Hillsborough ground will be opened up, though, and there are three different memorials within a few hundred yards of the ground to provide a local focus.
The flag on the Town Hall will be at half mast and at 3.06pm to 3.08pm the city centre siren will signal a two- minute silence, which people in the city can observe.
This silence will also be observed in Sheffield Town Hall.
Sheffield Lord Mayor Coun Jane Bird will lead a small group of city dignitaries in the morning to visit the memorial in the walled garden in Hillsborough.
The Lord Mayor will then go to the memorial on Wadsley Lane, Hillsborough, to lay flowers on behalf of the city.
Meadowhall shopping centre will hold a two-minute silence on Wednesday at 3.06am to allow shoppers and staff to pay their respects to the fans who lost their lives.
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Weather for Sheffield
Saturday 26 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 9 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 18 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 11 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 14 mph
Wind direction: East
