Summerland 40Th Anniversary

[IOMRS97]

 

I would hope there must be more to it all, but from a Douglas ratepayer, I would have thought there could have been a reception or something. That would have been very worthwhile - unlike some of the receptions they have at our expense.

 

Judging by the stream of photographs that appear so often in the newspapers, Douglas Corporation would hold a reception for the opening of a crisp packet (any excuse to get in the mayor's parlour for a councillor's free booze up, it seems to me).

In the e-mail I got I was asked to confirm if I was attending as there was a "buffet etc" after for those who attended!! People had a lot to talk about and nowhere to go, and a lot of them are now elderly, after all it has taken 40 years to get to this stage!Perhaps there was a church hall or similar that could have been used! It was actually very embarrassing!! The lady I sat beside hadn't heard tell of it and she only found out about the service at the last minute and she had lost relatives!! I heard a number of people say that there were others who hadn't known.It was cringeworthy!

I got an invitation as a former member of the emergency services having been involved at the time, but there was no mention of a buffet. I assumed there would be a reception at the town hall for survivors and relatives. I'm sure there must have been.

[Gladys]

That rising smoke!! 39 secs into MTTV last video (Summerland 40: Memories (3) looks very, very photoshopped (sorry) just not sure about the origin of these images from the guy with the new camera!!

Having witnessed the fire minutes after it started, I doubt there is any photoshopping at all. The fire spread very quickly and produced thick black smoke due to the nature of the material that was burning - it was, basically, plastic.

 

It was a truly horrific event and the island was paralysed for days afterwards; the raw trauma lasted for years .

 

The lady in the MTTV interview seemed to be reciting her sister's memory as well as her own and I am sure there would be crystal clear recollections and others more muddled; that seems to be the way of traumatic memories - the mind is very perceptive when in immediate danger but, when safe, it probably goes into shut down, both as preservation mechanisms.

 

Nothing in the interviews that I watched indicated any kind of conspiracy and it is wrong for those not directly involved or affected to now, forty years later, start looking for one.

 

If the reports on here are true about how the survivors were ignored and not even offered a chance to mingle with each other and recall the events that only they witnessed first hand, then the memorial service was a dismal and callous failure.

[Old Manxie]

@mrmadmanx- 40 years ago when the world wide press used all these pics I don't think computers were invented

[Vorta]

Yes they were. But not to the point they could manipulate images to the degree speculated.

[IOMRS97]

 

That rising smoke!! 39 secs into MTTV last video (Summerland 40: Memories (3) looks very, very photoshopped (sorry) just not sure about the origin of these images from the guy with the new camera!!

Having witnessed the fire minutes after it started, I doubt there is any photoshopping at all. The fire spread very quickly and produced thick black smoke due to the nature of the material that was burning - it was, basically, plastic.

 

It was a truly horrific event and the island was paralysed for days afterwards; the raw trauma lasted for years .

 

The lady in the MTTV interview seemed to be reciting her sister's memory as well as her own and I am sure there would be crystal clear recollections and others more muddled; that seems to be the way of traumatic memories - the mind is very perceptive when in immediate danger but, when safe, it probably goes into shut down, both as preservation mechanisms.

 

Nothing in the interviews that I watched indicated any kind of conspiracy and it is wrong for those not directly involved or affected to now, forty years later, start looking for one.

 

If the reports on here are true about how the survivors were ignored and not even offered a chance to mingle with each other and recall the events that only they witnessed first hand, then the memorial service was a dismal and callous failure.

Same here Gladys. When I got there, about 8.15, the flames were leaping across the front of the building from one Oroglas panel to the next in quick succession, accompanied by lot of black smoke.

[manxman1980]

I don't think that there should be any dispute about how fierce and rapidly the fire spread. The photographs, eye witness accounts and reports all match. My comment with regards the video was that if anyone has access to the story involving the lady and her sister it would be useful to have it posted in order to stop speculation and people reading between the lines.

[Torry loon]

The lady mentioned the account from her sister was in the newspaper. She said read it there.

 

The newspapers are easily accessed on microfilm in the Manx Museum. Unfortunately, I cannot access them just now otherwise I would.

 

However - and it is a big however - if you look through the newspapers for that time on microfilm you will notice that one week, one of the newspapers was not put onto microfilm and when scrolling through it is easy to not realise. Perhaps a bit like the malfunctions that cause Isle of Man Hansard to drop embarrassing speeches in Tynwald, there was a hiccup in the workings.

 

(Sorry if that sounds like I am trying to fuel the conspiracy theorists' minds, I'm not, I am just stating fact)

Edited August 6, 2013 by Torry loon

[Whatsername]

That rising smoke!! 39 secs into MTTV last video (Summerland 40: Memories (3) looks very, very photoshopped (sorry) just not sure about the origin of these images from the guy with the new camera!!

 

I just assumed that the original photos were black and white and that the colour ones were "touched up/coloured in" as you can do these days?

[NoTail]

Whatsername

 

Colour photos were common in the 1970s - I know some of us seem very old but colour photography has been around since the 2nd World War (and before). By the 70s it was very affordable. My Kodak instamatic did colour photos (rather crap - but colour nonetheless)

[Whatsername]

Yeh I'm not saying colour wasn't around, as I know it was, just that I also thought the smoke looked a bit "fake" on a couple but didnt think it was a conspiracy or owt, simply that I had assumed that the originals were black and white, tiz all

[Torry loon]

About this time, colour photography was just about standard, even for snapshot photography. These photos were taken, I understand by a keen amateur or freelance photographer and so has good kit.

 

Colour photography had been used for well over 100 years before Summerland.

 

But I think we digress....

[Torry loon]

There are some vivid descriptions in the Liverpool Echo of 2nd August 2013 from people who were there.

[Trueblood]

I was 8 at the time of the fire and visited Summerland regularly I feel very lucky not to have been there that day. Reading survivors stories is harrowing enough it must be 10 times worse to have been through something like that, I hope I never do.

 

Reading all these accounts it is staggering the place got built the way it did and the way fire regulations were ignored such as the locked fire exits.

[manxman1980]

I notice a few accounts seem to suggest that the building was clearly a fire hazard and/or unsafe and I wonder if this is said with the benefit of hindsight or whether it was really that bad?

 

As far I can see from the accounts I have read the main problems were locked fire exits, inadequate fire fighting systems and a problem with the materials used. The fire exits I can see as being obvious to most visitors, however, how many would really have been able to notice the design and material issues? I have also seen pictures of Summerland before the fire and nothing jumps out as making the building an obvious hazard when it came to fire.

[Torry loon]

I notice a few accounts seem to suggest that the building was clearly a fire hazard and/or unsafe and I wonder if this is said with the benefit of hindsight or whether it was really that bad?

There was a big spread in the local newspapers when the building opened. The reporter writing the article asked then, how would the building perform in a fire. The interviewee - one of the architects - assured the reporter everything was ok.

 

So it was a question that popped into a hack's head before the building opened. No hindsight.