Fanzines - voice of the ordinary supporter

We highlight Liverpool 'zine 'Through The Wind and Rain' - always a staunch supporter of the HJC and a voice that has kept alive and published articles on Hillsborough throuout the last 12 years. You can read all of their back issue articles about Hillsborough here

Contact Us - Contact TTWR

The Hillsborough Justice Campaign
134 Oakfield Road
Anfield
Liverpool
L4 0UG
Tel / fax : 0151 2605262

email:
hjcshop@tiscali.co.uk

Through the Wind and Rain
PO Box 23
Bootle
Liverpool
L30 2SA

email: lol@parrjohnson.freeserve.co.uk

Through the Wind and the Rain Fanzine Archives

Hillsborough Update

Apologies for misleading everyone last time. Where I got the idea that the court proceedings would be starting in August, God alone knows. After 10 years of obstruction and lies, I should have realised how the wheels of 'Justice' grind to a halt whenever they feel like it. Anyway, it's next summer that Duckenfield and Murray are in the dock. Sorry. Well, we've had the away game already, and there surely can't be anyone who thought it was a freak of the computerised fixture list? Even so, it was nowhere near a lock-out and as Sheffield Wednesday fans aren't too thrilled with their lot at the moment you can assume that those spare 5,000 or tickets would normally have been snapped up by Reds eager to see their new boys in action. Not so this time. May's boycott may yet have a long-term affect, so for all those at the forefront of the fight last May I reckon this can be counted as another victory.

After ten years, it will be difficult to keep Hillsborough in the public eye and we must always be vigilant whenever it looks as though it is slipping away. When our own people show disdain for the feelings of the bereaved and survivors, we must be louder still. I thought Peter Robinson's crap in the Echo last April along the lines of "the one good thing to come out of Hillsborough' (about all-seaters) was bad enough, but Gerard Houllier's rallying cry on the eve of the season beats all. 'As long as they (the players) show full commitment, give everything and show that they are willing to die for the shirt the fans don't care where they are from". Arguments over whether the players have actually done,this so far are futile anyway - what matters most is how such an intelligent man can make such a crass and unfeeling statement, given the football ground his team was about to visit. Just an expression? Perhaps, but a crass and unfeeling one all the same. Added to the usual snidey SYP call for 'ticket less fans" to stay away (don't worry, we fucking will), it seems simple consideration of feelings went out of the window yet again.

Other than that, there's little to report except for the usual round of arguments between the two groups. You may have read Phil Hammond's statement to the "Survivors Group' in the programme or 'Red All Over The Land'. TTW&R didn't receive a copy of it for some reason, but I received Kevin Robinson's response and John Glover's eloquent letter to all Liverpool fans. The latter ran to over five pages, and I'm afraid my editorial skills are not up to preserving the essence of an impassioned (but long) plea from the heart - especially as it is in response to something that appeared in another fanzine and the right of reply which I would be obliged to give the Support Group (a right the LFC programme seems hell-bent on denying to the Justice Campaign, I might add) could also be lengthy. I would therefore urge everybody to visit the HJC at 134 Oakfield Road and get hold of the whole thing, or if you want a copy sent to you I'm sure I can get hold of some. Write to PO Box 23 etc

For those who have not read RAOTL 35 and 36, Phil had claimed that the court cases were being put in jeopardy by fans carrying a "Justice for Hillsborough victims" banner at one of the Ireland friendlies. The idea seems ludicrous, and the HJC responded accordingly. The motive remains unclear; but surely the Support Group do not really expect the HJC to keep quiet for 12 months? Whether they expect it or not, it simply isn't going*to happen. i would hope it did not indicate a lack of confidence in their own legal action, or hint at a search for a suitable scapegoat if Duckenfield & Murray do get away with it again.

Question marks must also be raised at the ease with which the Support Group gets into the programme while the other group does not. My own experience in all this caused no end of cynicism. Back in February, I was part of a meeting to discuss (or rather, be told of) the memorial at Sheffield Wednesday. The two people still sticking to the need for a boycott of the May fixture were myself and Johnny Mac of 'RAOTL' We found out much later that a second meeting was arranged, to which other people from the original meeting were invited. John and I weren't, presumably because we were deemed ,unsympathetic". Needless to say, not a single representative of the HJC was invited to either meeting. This 'blanking' of what is now an important part of the Hillsborough 'equation' still rankles, and it was their hard work which did most to ensure the boycott would succeed. Perhaps that's why they are being given the cold shoulder? The response of the Support Group to the boycott was one of complete interference all the way down the line, so it would seem Phil and co. want the kind of assistance that they aren't prepared to give themselves. When statements from Trevor Hicks to the local press were used to suggest that the boycott had actually been called off, the swift HJC response to the contrary was completely and utterly ignored. Calls for equivalent space in the programme are falling on deaf ears. What are they so afraid of? Also, the reference in Phil's letter to "survivors group" was hurtful to the likes of the Glovers and the Churches, bereaved members of the HJC.

God, it's a mess isn't it? The fanzines are pretty much slap-bang in the middle of all this. On a personal level, I count the likes of Colin Moneypenny and Pete Carney as good friends, people I am genuinely privileged to know. All we can honestly do is plead with our readers to GET INVOLVED. Go to the groups in question, the addresses are on page 9, I'm sure you won't be turned away. Find out what you can do, because there is an awful lot still to be done. They need all the help they can get.

As Mick says in the letters pages, the HJC is trying to remind fans about the boycott of the 'Sun' and how we can never forgive that rag for what they did to us. Ten years on, there is a new generation of fans simply not aware of what was written and how it set the tone for the rest to follow. This is also an apt time to urge you to buy 'Stick It Up Your Punter' by Peter Chippendale & Chris Horrie a fabulous dissection of the scum's McKenzie era. We were not the only victims of that poisonous twat, and if you ever feel the urge to buy that piece of filth again this book is essential reading.

Justice for the 96, and for all the victims of Hillsborough.

I was listening to Nick Drake's classic debut album "Five leaves Left' recently and an astonishing thing occurred. I'd never really taken much notice of the lyrics to the final song, "Saturday Sun" before (which doesn't make me much of a Nick Drake fan, does it?). When I dug out the booklet and actually read them, they seemed to be talking about something else.

Saturday sun came early one morning
In a sky so clear and blue
Saturday sun came without warning so no one knew what to do
Saturday sun brought people and faces that didn't seem much in their day
But when I remember those people and places they were really too good in their way
In their way, in their way Saturday sun won't come and see me today
Think about stories with reason and rhyme circling through your brain,
And think about people in their season and lime returning again and again
And again and again
And Saturday's sun has turned to Sunday's rain
So Sunday sat in the Saturday sun and wept for a day gone by

This, don't forget, was a song written 20 years before a certain day at a certain ground. I can honestly say I was freaked out. Now maybe I'm not the first person to notice this (even now, Nick isn't all that popular), but I did have one idea. Perhaps one of the Liverpool groups or singers could bring out 'Saturday Sun' as a benefit single? Shack has already done a great album this year, "H M S Fable", with some fantastic ballads on it. They'd be my choice - or it might appeal to the likes of Costello, McCulloch, Wylie or Broudie. I obviously don't move in such circles, but someone must. Does anyone else think it's a good idea?

SK

As a member of the HJC I thought I'd write in and express a few thoughts and ideas. If anyone thinks that we should all keep quiet for the duration of the private prosecutions i would respectfully suggest that we've already had too many years of silence. For all those years the establishment has worked night and day to rewrite the history of Hillsborough and there's always been an excuse to say nothing. From the initial proceedings, the inquests, Taylor's report and the final stitch-up from Stuart Smith. Every sorry step of the way there has been a decline in public awareness and the silence has been deafening even on Merseyside.

If the legal manoeuvres had been backed by a high profile pro-active campaign the chances of being stitched up would have decreased tremendously. For years we have seen the families isolated from the survivors and the wider public support vital for a successful campaign for Justice. Hilisborough wasn't a disaster that affected the bereaved families alone. In fact, survivors were standing shoulder to shoulder with the 96 - yet back in '89 the HFSG decided to 'go it alone' and it's my guess that the situation was manipulated by the establishment. 'Divide & rule' was the first thought in my mind.

The trial of Duckenfield and Murray is supported by the HJC in as much as we are glad to see them appear in court. However, the private prosecutions are not the sole property of the Support Group - we've all paid for it. The evidence must surely include accounts from survivors. It was stated in #43 that the fight for Justice must go on. Two coppers alone didn't cause Hilisborough - Sheffield Wednesday and the FA certainly have a lot to answer for, and how many more were involved in the cover-up? Do we simply pretend all that never happened? The answer must surely be 'NO', and I've no intention of keeping quiet over that aspect. The HJC has been busy building a network of contacts, which will enable us to investigate all aspects of the cover-up. This is only one project, and rest assured we will certainly be around for as long as it takes.

You may like to know that somebody from the 'Scum' had the audacity to call the HJC for a quote on Jack Straw's 'scouser' comments. They were told in no uncertain terms never to phone our office again. The HJC is 100% unanimous on the Sun and are beginning to step up a gear in promoting the Boycott on that comic. One Dutch Red walked into our shop with a copy under his arm! Once we had calmly explained the Scum's role in blaming Liverpool fans for the disaster and showed him a copy of the paper's 19/4/89 edition ('THE TRUTH) he gave us his copy to tear up and vowed never to buy it again. The HJC has a new colour t-shirt highlighting the Scum phone up for details (0151 260 5262) or call into our Oakfield Road headquarters.

And if the Scum want to sue me, well make my day! Can we start a chant of "Rupert Murdoch Is a Wanker' at live Sky games?

Mick c/o Hillsborough Justice Campaign

Just when you are starting to get excited about the new season, it comes like a bolt out of the blue. I think it took me a few seconds before I realised that we were playing that club away on the opening day. I was absolutely gutted. This is a definite set-up after the success of last season's boycott. Could it be that Sheffield Wednesday's chairman could not see his club humiliated like that again with that amount of lost revenue from the away ticket sales on May 8th?

I still won't go and I hoped many others would be joining (though I doubted it even then). At least my conscience is clear in the fact that I have never given that club a penny of my money since the day 96 of our fans died at their horrible stadium

Justice for all Hillsborough victims

Ste Wright West Derby