Hamm Strasse Memorial Stone - Bradford, UK
Posted by: 
dtrebilc
N 53° 47.911 W 001° 45.426
30U E 581862 N 5961821
This memorial was placed in 2010 when the road name changed to thank the city of Hamm for their support after a disastrous fire at Bradford’s football club.
Waymark Code: WMM1H2
Location: Yorkshire, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 07/02/2014
Views: 1
The memorial
At the time of the fire Bradford City's main stand was a wooden one that had been built in 1911. The steps had open risers and over the years much rubbish had accumulated underneath the stand. Two safety reports had criticised the condition of the stands.
The club made plans to replace the stand, and this actually coincided with their best season since 1937 and in their penultimate game of the season had accumulated enough points to gain promotion to the 2nd Division.
Their last game of the season was intended to be a celebration and before the game Bradford-born captain Peter Jackson was presented with the league trophy.
Sadly the celebrations turned into disaster and 40 minutes after the start of the match a fire did start underneath the seats and the fire spread incredibly rapidly and engulfed the whole of the stand including the roof.
54 Bradford supporters died and two supporters of the visiting team, Lincoln. In addition 265 supporters were injured.
Further details of both the club and the disaster can be found on this Wikipedia web page.
link
Present at the ground were dignitaries from Bradford’s twin city, Hamm in Germany. As a result of this the news reached Germany and a memorial was presented to Bradford and placed outside the City Hall.
In 2010 on the 25th anniversary of the fire Bradford renamed this road Hamm Strasse in honour of the twin town and this memorial stone was erected at the corner of Hamm Strasse and Manningham Lane.
The memorial also has the Bradford City Football club coat of arms, Bradford Metropolitan Borough Coat of Arms and Hamm’s coat of arms.