To end our news items regarding the tragedy at Dunblane Primary School - One of our writers who took a trip to Dunblane earlier this week to pay tribute, sums up this terrible nightmare.
a personal journey by Highlander Web Magazine's John Boocock On Wednesday the 13th of March 1996, Scotland went strangely quiet sometime during the late morning. News was slowly filtering out about a terrible event at a primary school in the small town of Dunblane, just north of Stirling. A number of pupils and their teacher had been shot by an unnamed gunman who had also taken his own life.
Scotland is often described as a small village, events at one end of the country often having major significance for people hundreds of miles away. This was no exception. On Wednesday morning I took my nine-year-old to her small primary school in Invergordon, a small Highland town here on the Cromarty Firth. The staff of the school, always helpful, always concerned for so much more than the education of our children, were clearly moved by what had happened. By Thursday it was clear that the whole world had heard, and was crying with us - the following e-mail from a list I'm on summed it up for me:
"I just read about the tragedy in Dunblane this morning (as it's only 8:45am now). I can't tell you how saddened it's made me, even being a transplanted Scot living in America. Just wanted you to know this has made an impact on one far, far away." - Paulette
During the next 12 hours my mail box was flooded with similar e-mails.
On the Friday I was to travel south to England. With the agreement of our school, I bought flowers to take to Dunblane and set off mid-morning on what turned out to be an extended trip via Fort William as the A9, the major road south, had been closed because of snow and ice. Nothing could have prepared me for the sight that met me in Dunblane.
There were flowers everywhere across the entrance to the school, with small, cuddly toys tied to the railings. As I read the cards attached to the flowers I wept. Most of them said"Why?". Sixteen red roses carried the message: "Playing with the angels". Even as I stood more folk were turning up, to lay flowers or just to stand and look. A policeman told me that this had been the scene for the past two days.
I began the long journey south to Yorkshire with a very heavy heart. I still hadn't taken in the far-reaching effect of this event. My awakening began when I arrived in my home city of Leeds. There were people collecting for the Dunblane fund in every pub and bar, some wouldn't let you in unless you contributed. On the Sunday I went to Elland Road to watch my football team Leeds United play. Before the match started, in keeping with every other sporting event in the United Kingdom last weekend, there was a minute's silence. You could have heard a pin drop as the assembled 30,000 football fans paid their respects to a community most of them would never have heard of but for the tragic events of Wednesday. At the end of the silence the referee blew his whistle and an anguished roar went up from the crowd as if to scream for the lives of those killed in Dunblane.
More than a week later and the funerals of the dead have all taken place, the injured are off the critical list, although three are still recovering in hospital, and the school has re-opened. I'm still getting messages from all over the world. The enormity of what happened is still with us. At the reopening of the school on Friday, the headmaster, Ron Taylor, said: "Every message, every offer of help, has given us that little bit of hope". I hope the families of those who died know that we care about them and that we are still thinking about them.
John Boocock
The "rose" graphic and our memorial page will remain as a permanent memorial to the children and teacher of killed at Dunblane. Many individuals and companies have asked that this memorial page remain.
"I hope our children are never forgotten".
If you would like to display the memorial on your page, and are having difficulty with it, or would like to link to the page, please write to: admin@catalyst-highlands.co.uk for help, and submition of your URL.
All of your letters have been printed and forwarded to Cheif Constable William Wilson, with the assurance that they will be passed, at an appropriate time, to the families and school of Dunblane. Any letters which are still coming in will also be printed and passed along.
For any further updates on Dunblane, news items will be featured in our news pages.