Tribute to the 96...

You will have seen that we have added a tribute to the 96 Liverpool football fans who lost their lives at Hillsborough on 15th April 1989, and their families. The poem 'The Bell' was written by Adrian Henri , a life-long Liverpool FC supporter, in the days that followed the tragedy, and the performance reading is accompanied by Andy on guitar. Adrian Henri's partner, Catherine Marcangeli, has kindly given permission for the poem to be reproduced on the website.

Andy said "This recording is a plain, and I hope unpretentious, performance of The Bell from the Bedford Readers’ and Writers’ Festival 1993. I think we had started performing the poem a couple of years before, but it was only short, and I recollect it always had this simplicity – an unadorned feeling which was in keeping with the momentous event it recalled. "

"I wasn't actually at Hillsborough but I was in Liverpool that weekend. At the end of that traumatic few days I was left with two abiding images. One was the sound of the Great George Bell in the Anglican cathedral which rang on Sunday - once for each person who died on the Saturday. I ended up eventually writing a poem called The Bell which attempted to evoke that sensation in words. The other was the flowers at Anfield which led to this painting called 'Flowers for Liverpool'. Adrian Henri