Sacred Valley: Podcast Trailer

[00:00:00] Speaker A: The following podcast contains some distressing interviews that may not be suitable for all audiences. On 11 May 1985, a fire broke out in a wooden stand during a football match between Bradford City and Lincoln City. It will be forever remembered as one of the worst football tragedies in history. On the 40th anniversary of the fire, the stars aligned to make it special. Off the pitch, Bradford was the 2025 UK City of Culture. And on the pitch, the Bantam's fight for promotion went all the way down to the final home game of the season. This is a podcast miniseries exploring the story of how a community honoured a tragedy that they have vowed will never be forgotten. This is Sacred Valley, the tragedy and triumph of the 40th anniversary of the Bradford fire. [00:01:00] Speaker B: Two small boys came clambering up towards my commentary box and said, there's two dead down there. Mr. Those are the exact words, there's two dead down there. Mr. I'll never ever forget those words. It's sending a shiver through me now. It still does, even 40 years on. It sends a shiver right through my whole body. [00:01:20] Speaker C: Within about five minutes, the whole stand was on fire and people were leaping over the fencing to get onto the pitch. It was that intense. We were stood on the opposite side of the pitch and we had to turn away from the heat on a regular basis. You just couldn't look at it because of the heat for too long. [00:01:43] Speaker D: And I think maybe this is when I couldn't watch anymore. I could see through just two people, just didn't even bother to try and get out. So you think, well, there's two for certain. But even though I say we still hoped against hope that everybody got out okay, but obviously they didn't because, you know, in the end it was 56 people that died, over 200 people got badly injured. And, you know, I've got to say that, you know, say I was in that stand the week before and I've been in that stand loads of times and what happened that day could have happened anytime, really. [00:02:23] Speaker E: And I remember going to the, towards the crowd and saying, calm down, calm down, it's just a bit of smoke. And then two minutes later I picked somebody up, up out of the stand and threw, threw them out over my shoulder onto the pitch. See, I've never read the book, I've never seen the film and that I don't mind talking about, about this, but I literally can't remember. I cannot remember. I got several letters from people saying, thank you for pulling them out. Can't remember a single thing, not a jot about it. [00:03:07] Speaker F: The door was locked and he did smash it down with the help from policemen on the other side pulling at it. So his foresight, I suppose, that thing around smelling plastic. Now I understand what he meant. Obviously, back then, at 13, all I wanted to do is see the game. But I think the one thing. And I remember being in the paddock, I remember coming out of the door and I remember being down the back, that back corridor. There was. There were people in there, but there was one particular woman who was running down that corridor screaming. And I'll never forget that scream. It was blood curdling. And whenever I think about it, that's one of the things that I'll never forget. I'll never forget that. [00:04:09] Speaker A: Sacred the tragedy and triumph of the 40th anniversary of the Bradford Fire will feature interviews with John Helm, John Hawley, Mike Harrison, Tony Smith, Professor R.J. mahajan, Gemma Wilson, Clive Mishler, Ian McDonnell and many more. All proceeds of this podcast will go to the Plastic Surgery and Burns Research Unit at the University of Bradford. Set up in the aftermath of the fire, the unit has led the world in pioneering techniques to help heal victims of burns. Some have called the Bradford fire the forgotten disaster. It will never be forgotten. Many of the people who participated in this podcast found the telling of their stories extremely difficult. They never want the Bradford fire and the bravery and humanity the Bradford community witnessed that day to ever be forgotten. This podcast is dedicated to the 54 Bradford City fans and the two Lincoln City fans who died, the 265 who were burned, the 11,000 at the ground who bore witness, the heroes who rushed to the aid of those in trouble, the emergency service, police officers and fire crews who ran towards the danger to save others, the doctors, nurses and medical workers who worked tirelessly for weeks to heal the injured and for the community of Bradford who have astonished me time and again by their incredible spirit.