Rent and Service Charges

Grenfell Silent Walk 💚

On 14th June 2024 my partner and I took part in the Grenfell silent walk. It's the third one I've attended in person. During the covid year I watched the event online.

Very shortly after the tragic fire which 72 people sadly died in 2017, I visited the area. I recall how the area smelt like burnt toast and every now and again some sort of hidden particle in the air entered my throat. Looking at the building directly was horrible.

Next to St Clements Church seven years ago, I saw excellent tributes and was amazed in how the school children had produced memory cards and pictures. There were also speakers including those that had survived.

Michael Mansfield KC had also given a speech in which he advised the crowd to ensure survivors and those affected ask the government for two inquiries and gave reasons why with examples from Hillsborough and Stephen Lawrence.

It was this experience that drove me to not stop writing in the MIRPM exam that I took in 2018. I still remember how my right arm had pain for two days after the exam. When I attended the IRPM conference in June 2019 at the beginning there was a minute's silence for Grenfell in which everyone stood up to do this.

My partner and I this year (2024) walked with everyone else from Notting Hill cathedral to the starting point. Everyone was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop. All of the Police were so respectful and sympathetic to everyone.

My partner and I walked directly behind the Fire Brigade Union. Each of those reps had "Firefighters demand safe homes for all." Others including myself this year displayed the placard which said "this much evidence, still no charges." It is the second time in any demonstration I've ever held up a placard. I believe it shouldn't be taking this long for victims to achieve justice.

When we got to just past Ladbroke Grove tube, there were other firefighters uniformed that had lined up. I nodded as respectfully as I could and shook hands with each of them as they took so many risks that night.

Gradually we ended up to the starting point and heard further speeches. There was also solidarity from other causes as one of the victims of the blood scandal and the rep for covid victims had spoken.

A video was displayed which showed members of the bereaved, presenting back in January 2024 at a conference to company reps that caused the fire. It was heartbreaking to watch and I could feel others who watched it have their hairs raising at the back of their necks.

The leading and well known housing journalist further read out names in which he felt were responsible for Grenfell. This included KCTMO, politicians both past and present and companies that provided the cladding.

I had always thought about some near misses and coincidences I've experienced to date. This includes as follows:

-Missing 77 by 30 minutes. I had just caught the 0600 by a few minutes from Norwich to Liverpool Street. I then travelled via tube from Liverpool Street to Paddington. Had I have caught the train from Norwich after the 0600 then there was a chance I would have been caught up in either the Aldgate bomb or Edgware Road one.

-Travelling on the tram the day before the Sandilands derailment. I remember saying to myself on that early evening how my tram had felt like it nearly derailed. I stood the day before on Sandilands platform near to where the crash the happened.

-Missing the London Bridge attacks because they were carried out on that Saturday. I was working in an office on that exact road and used to walk every Monday to Friday from Elephant and Castle to just past Borough. At the nearby Cathedral I had even given a presentation in one of the halls to over 100 colleagues about income and arrears management. On the following Monday after the attacks, I saw all the media with their cameras doing their reports.

-Working for the same company as former KCTMO CEO Robert Black between late 2007 to mid 2009. It was my first job in housing in which I was earning £7.00 an hour in Norwich as a Property Management Assistant. Feels weird watching the Grenfell Inquiry and programs like BBC Panorama seeing Mr Black being questioned and interrogated.

I do hope the victims of Grenfell can achieve some form of closure and justice very soon and the experiences the victims spoke about do not occur to anyone else within social housing.

Especially the children who experienced the tragedy who are now grown up. Their speeches were the most powerful of them all and are very determined particularly the one by inspirational Yousra Cherbika. They explained to everyone they refuse to not being listened to.

Forever in our hearts 💚