April 15th, 1989 was one of the worst days in the history of Merseyside. On that fateful day,
Liverpool were to play Nottingham Forest in the semi-final of the FA Cup. With several
thousand supporters still outside waiting to enter the ground the game began, and the main gate
was opened, allowing many supporters into the Leppings Lane end. What followed next will never
be forgotten by anyone who saw the events unfold. I was at home and watched it all on TV. Even
now, nine years later, I am filled with a mixture of sadness and anger at what happened that
day. However, even worse was the cover-up which followed.
Justice for the 96 is a page dedicated to the memory of those who died as a result of the
Hillsborough Disaster. Please take time to read through the memorial list and look through some
of the facts about the events of that day. I hope to include a page based on the booklet
of poems published soon after the Disaster. The poems are just some of the many written by
people who felt moved to write down their feelings of grief and anger. They were all left at
Anfield during a week of mourning at the ground. I also want to include some newspaper articles
written at the time to give a general picture of everything that happened.
Families slam Hillsborough cash deal: Families of the Hillsborough victims have criticised a six-figure
compensation payment awarded to a police officer. The pay-out is related to stress he suffered nine years after the 1989 tragedy which killed 96 people.
CITY TV SUCCESS
A Hard-hitting documentary by Liverpool's cable TV station is in line for a top television
award. Channel One's 'Hillsborough 10 Years On' could be named Best Cable and Satellite
Programme at the North West Royal Television Society Awards this Saturday.
It is the first time the cable station has been nominated for such an accolade. They beat more
than 110 entrants to make it into the top three for their category. And it is a great
achievement for Channel One - part of the Liverpool Daily Post and Echo - which celebrated
its third birthday in October.
Channel One general manager David Simms said: "Being nominated is very special for everyone
at Channel One Liverpool. "It goes to show that local television is popular and Channel One
is very much alive and kicking and going from strength to strength. "To be nominated is
prestigious, to win the award will be even better."
'Hillsborough 10 Years On' is a harrowing mini-series which shows how survivors and families
of victim's are coping with the effects of the disaster, a decade later. It was narrated by
Paul Usher, the Merseyside actor who stars in Liverpool One and is famous for his role as
Barry Grant in Brookside.
Station editor Leigh Marles said: "It is a harrowing series and upset a lot of people who
worked on it. "There is still so much emotion and anger about Hillsborough that we thought a
programme needed to be done.
Poignant
"It was the first television programme on the disaster to be made by people from Liverpool
and the first to take survivors back to Leppings Lane. "It is a very poignant documentary and
I am exceptionally proud of it."
The three half-hour programmes were broadcast in April this year to coincide with the 10th
anniversary of the disaster and there are also plans to repeat the series later this year.
