The owner of the Clutha
bar, where ten people died after a police helicopter crashed through the
roof a year ago this week, has revealed plans to reopen the Glasgow pub
with a memorial to those who lost their lives.
Alan Crossan told
Scotland on Sunday that the first anniversary of the tragedy next
Saturday would be “very difficult for all concerned” but is looking
ahead with plans for a memorial stone to occupy the center of the new
Clutha bar when it reopens next year.
The stone will feature two
interlinked hands, in tribute to those who rushed to help that fateful
night, with the ten fingers representing the ten lives lost.
“You
have to be really sensitive when rebuilding somewhere that people have
died. It has taken me a long time to get it straight in my head what I
want to do with it. It won’t be an exact recreation but I would hope it
will have the same sense of character. The Clutha was never about the
bar itself but more the people who drank there,” Crossan said.
More
than 100 people were inside listening to ska band Esperanza when
tragedy struck the Clutha at 10:25pm on 29 November, 2013. As well as
the ten people who died, many more sustained terrible injuries.
Pilot
David Traill and police constables Tony Collins and Kirsty Nelis were
killed when the Eurocopter EC 135 went down, while those killed in the
pub were John McGarrigle, Mark O’Prey, Gary Arthur, Colin Gibson, Robert
Jenkins and Samuel McGhee. Joe Cusker was pulled from the wreckage but
later died in hospital.
To mark the anniversary a service will be
held at Glasgow Cathedral on Saturday while numerous other private acts
of remembrance will also take place.
The Clutha, in Stockwell
Street on the north bank of the River Clyde, is one of Glasgow’s oldest
pubs and was a popular venue for live music.
Crossan yesterday
denied suggestions that he was planning to sell the Clutha site or build
flats where the bar used to stand. “There have been a lot of rumours
floating around about my plans, people saying I was looking to build
flats but that has never crossed my mind,” he said.
Asked whether
he felt the authorities were doing enough in regard to the
investigation into the crash, he said: “No, it is one year on and we
still don’t have any information on what happened to the helicopter –
the families need closure.”
An investigation is still being
carried out by the Air Accidents Investigation Branch and it is hoped
that the full report will be made available early next year.
Crossan
has also set up a charity, The Clutha Trust, with the aim of helping
children from disadvantaged backgrounds into the music industry. A trust
launch night is to be held this Friday at the Barrowlands featuring
Sandi Thom, Horse, Carly Conner and Denny Oliver.
A separate fund
set up to raise cash for the victims families has so far amassed
£500,000 while the company that operated the police helicopter Bond Air
Services has started making payments to the victims after accepting
strict liability for the losses suffered by those killed or injured in
the crash.
Lawyers for the victims have revealed that full
compensation payments are close to being reached. But in some of the
cases of people who were seriously injured, the payouts could take
longer given the extent of their injuries.
More than 30 cases are
being handled by Glasgow-based Thompsons Solicitors, while aviation
specialists Irwin Mitchell, have 17 clients.
- Source: http://www.scotsman.com
http://www.aaib.gov.uk/2_2014
http://www.aaib.gov.uk/9_2013
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