Dunblane

[curiouswombat]

I was so happy for Andy Murray, winning the US Open. There was coverage on the TV news this morning, not only of the match, but looking at how it was watched, and celebrated, in his home town of Dunblane.

And I thought of what the name Dunblane meant to people before Andy Murray became famous.

So tonight I would like to remember

Victoria Elizabeth Clydesdale (5)
Emma Elizabeth Crozier (5)
Melissa Helen Currie (5)
Charlotte Louise Dunn (5)
Kevin Allan Hasell (5)
Ross William Irvine (5)
David Charles Kerr (5)
Mhairi Isabel MacBeath (5)
Brett McKinnon (6)
Abigail Joanne McLennan (5)
Gwen Mayor (45) — Primary School Teacher
Emily Morton (5)
Sophie Jane Lockwood North (5)
John Petrie (5)
Joanna Caroline Ross (5)
Hannah Louise Scott (5)
Megan Turner (5)

Who were all gunned down in the gym of Dunblane Primary School on 13 March 1996 - whilst an 8 year old boy called Andy Murray hid, with his classmates, under his desk just up the corridor.

Comments

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

I don't think it is really something he likes to talk about - but I gather he does talk about it in his autobiography.

But to Brits, until very recently, the word 'Dunblane' was always accompanied by the word 'massacre'.

[zanthinegirl.livejournal.com]

"Massacre" is the only thing I associate with Dunblane. That's true of Columbine too; I'm glad that Dunblane at least is getting other associations.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

His family all still live there and he certainly sees it as 'home' - and so there have been a few times that the cameras have been at the local tennis club or his grandparents' house, or the high street, or whatever, interviewing local people - each time he has made a big final. He is so much the great hope of British tennis - this is the first grand slam win by a British man for 76 years!

So when I said I don't think it's something he is comfortable talking about I was thinking of him being in the school that day, rather than that he comes from Dunblane.

I am sure that the children's deaths will not be forgotten, but I am really happy for the town that it is now mentioned on the news without the word massacre being attached - I hope that, eventually, Columbine can do that, too.