A SPECIAL edition of the City Gent fanzine, featuring poignant articles by people who experienced the Bradford fire disaster, will be on sale at Valley Parade tomorrow.
Editor Mike Harrison (pictured) hopes sales of the issue – which is the 200th produced since it was founded in 1984 – will raise at least £1,000 for the Bradford Burns Unit.
It features 11 articles, including one by former fanzine editor Brian Fox, telling of the terrible injuries his parents suffered in the fire. Another one, by Andrew Flett, tells of a scarf he has in his loft and its links to the fateful day.
Mr Harrison, who wrote one of the articles himself, said: “I was overwhelmed by the response and the articles that I received are extremely moving but also reflect the general thoughts of Bradford City fans regarding the events that took place that fateful day.
“I also had to write the hardest non-football editorial that I have ever had to write, given the revelation of ‘coincidences’ last week following the launch of Martin Fletcher’s book and the upset that it has caused.”
He added: “I still think it is very difficult for people to write about it – people still find it difficult to talk about it 30 years on.
“Ifound it very hard to write my article. It was something I had to write and it was not easy.”
Mr Harrison, now 53, was 23 at the time of the fire and was in the stand opposite. He said he didn’t want Martin Fletcher’s story to be the only story.
“There are thousands of others,” said Mr Harrison. “People who lost people, hundreds that got burnt, thousands who witnessed it that did not want to be there witnessing it.
“We wanted to get across other people’s thoughts and reflections and I think that is what we have done.”
City Gent issue 200 – of which Mr Harrison has had 1,000 printed – will be on sale at Valley Parade tomorrow, when the Bantams take on Barnsley in League One, at the usual cost of £2, but with £1 from each copy sold going to the burns unit.
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