'I survived Grenfell fire – demolishing tower block is like taking our gravestone away'
'I survived Grenfell fire – demolishing tower block is like taking our gravestone away'
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A Grenfell Tower survivor said the decision to demolish the block feels like “taking away our gravestone”. Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner is said to have announced the decision “after 15 seconds” of a heated meeting on Wednesday evening with survivors and those left bereaved by the tragedy. Community groups have discussed for years about what should happen to the 24-storey block in West London but survivor Willie Thompson, 68, said the government wants to ‘wipe the memory of Grenfell away’.
“The tower is visible from a long way off and they want to take it down and take away the memories,” said Willie, who escaped from the 8th floor flat where he lived for 20 years and one day. “She told us after 15 seconds of the meeting that the advice from structural engineers was to demolish it. “That’s what she’s going to do with our gravestone. “We visit Grenfell Tower a lot, just to sit there and speak to the ones we lost, and she wants to take that from us.”.
He escaped from flat 52 with partner Mary, daughter Cathy, and their late dog Casper. He said Ms Rayner told them they would bring the top half of the tower down because of its fire damage, and then “we will take it from there”. Willie said the 10th floor downwards is structurally safe and would like to see the bottom half of the tower remain as a monument comprising a museum. “We don’t trust the government that they’ll get down to the 10th floor and then not just decide to get rid of it all,” he said.
“The government told us the tower was safe - and look what happened. “So there is very little trust. “We need something of that tower to remain so people can visit it and remember. “Maybe with a little cafe and museum, because there’s so much stuff recovered from the site.”. Nabil Choucair, who lost his mother, his sister, her husband and their three daughters in the disaster, said he understood the tower needed to come down but also found the thought of it heartbreaking.
“I’m not surprised and I expected it to happen, it was a matter of time,” said the 50-year-old dad-of-three. “But also it’s awful news because this is where our families last lived and died, and nothing has yet been done when it comes to prosecutions or even a memorial design, and there is still cladding on buildings in the UK. “I understand why, and accepting it is part of the process. “The fire damaged the building and years on it's decaying and it’s slowly getting worse.
“But emotionally it’s very devastating, it’s hard, especially when there are so many outstanding matters to be resolved. “These 72 loved ones were all family and there has to be a legacy, a memorial, to remember them. “The announcement is the start of the process. “There are people who were too young to visit the site in the past and now are able to do so, and so they will hopefully have a chance to visit and say their last goodbyes.
“I’d like to see it prolonged a bit so that can happen and so there can be some movement with the prosecution.” Asked how he has managed to cope with such loss, he said: “I’m not coping with what happened, it’s very hard to cope. “I’m struggling, it’s taken its toll on me and my family. It’s not easy, I would not want anyone to go through what we’ve had to go through. “I speak out because I want to ensure that nobody ever has to go through what we did, and to try and ensure another Grenfell never happens again.”.
Grenfell United, the bereaved and survivors group, said in a statement they had not had their views heard or considered in the decision. “Ignoring the voices of bereaved on the future of our loved one’s gravesite is disgraceful and unforgivable,” it said. Kimia Zabihyan, from Grenfell Next of Kin, which also acts for some of the bereaved families, was also at the meeting. She said she understood the government’s reasoning, stating the choice had been taken out of Ms Rayner’s hands by the engineers who said Grenfell was no longer safe to remain standing.
She said that at the meeting she translated for one person who had told Ms Rayner: “No-one cares about this more than me, because I had just bits of bone to bury of my mother so that building means a lot to me. That is where her soul is, where her ashes are. It’s in that building, and I support you.”. Ann Waters, 65, has lived in the same house since 1969 and had friends who died in the disaster. Her back garden, which lies in the shadow of Grenfell, was peppered with debris and fire balls on the night of the blaze. She recalls the horror of picking through it as the fire raged, and watching as the inferno tore through the tower.
