Summerland 45: Ruth McQuillan-Wilson

As the Island get ready to remember the 45th anniversary of the Summerland fire we talk with survivor/author Ruth McQuillan-Wilson.
Isle of Man TV channel - produced by Paul Moulton for PMC-TV

[@maryjames3318]

I was in Summerland the day before the fire with my family, it was so beautiful inside. The day of the fire we had gone to the pictures to watch the new Bond film,i think it was Live and Let Die.The film was stopped half way through and we were all told to go back to our hotels. I was devastating to see the building in flames. RIP to all those lost their lives.

[@MsrAlaindeFerrier]

I was there with my grandparents and aunt two days before the disaster. I asked if we could go again to Summeland as we all loved it. We reviewed a phone call from the mainland that my mum had taken ill so we left on the next ferry and arriving at the house back in Manchester a news flash came on with the terrible news of the fire so we had a very near escape. I'll never forget the Summerland fire God bless all those who perished and all those who lost loved ones

[@98Tabster]

I hope your mum was ok Alan! Yes it was a great place. We’ll never forget those who died or their grieving family and friends. There’s a lovely memorial just along the prom. 💛

[@MsrAlaindeFerrier]

@@98Tabster mum had had a breakdown and was going into hospital She got better and its so strange the timing, we honest to god we're supposed to be going and I dead to think what might have happened. Always wanted to go back to the Isle of Man. When we were there I remember it being absolutely gorgeous weather. Did you loose anyone in the tragedy Ruth?

[@98Tabster]

@@MsrAlaindeFerrier Hi Alan - I’m so sorry! Your poor mum! Yes I definitely believe things happen for a reason and you were spared. I was badly burnt but we escaped with our lives. I decided to write a book about my experience. Should have had a second one out but I had a stroke. I had to learn to walk again at 50 just as I did after the fire when I was 5. I’m not that good at it yet lol but I get about. Grateful for small mercies. xxx

[@MsrAlaindeFerrier]

@@98Tabster oh you poor love, I am so sorry to hear that. As a ray of hope, I know so many people who have had a stroke and have made fantastic progress and recovery. I'll delve into finding your book. X

[@tracyyy99]

May we NEVER forget those 50 people who died...RIP

[@98Tabster]

We never will and there is a beautiful memorial with the names of all those who died on it. 🌻

[@chrispaw1]

What a lovely lady. I really enjoyed listening and learning some facts about this even. So very sad. I guess if we think ‘fire kills’ 1000’s of people around the world wach each but it actually does not, a whole lot of those losses of life are down to human influence not the fire. Will the world forget about Grenfell Tower as easily as it has forgotten about Summerland, its extremely sad that these tragic 50 people lost their lives yet if you were not personally linked to the event then you would never really know about it. Very sad. ❤️❤️

[@nanettemclean5]

I visited Summerland in 1972 and was 12 years old! I always remembered the wierd shape windows! ...Little did I know then ;(

[@typhoon5445]

i well remember it Ruth ..all the best to you x i was 12

[@mrssmith3051]

I was born early 80s and I have only heard of this sad Summerland disaster today, by it coming up on yt! Such a big thing and I had never heard about it! Crazy! RIP to all those that passed away 😞

[@lewisbrand]

New Year's eve 1992 ( New Year's day 1993 ). I was in Hong Kong in Lan Kwai Fong. Really frightening experience. I have so much sympathy for these people involved in large public disasters.

[@purplepoppyz]

It’s amazing, considering the horror and the number of people, families, who lost their lives, that it was sweep under the carpet and forgotten so quickly. I was in the Isle of Man as a Girl Guide, about 3 years after this and by that time, it was as if it had never happened.

[@bustakitayancey7261]

God bless you @Ruth

[@98Tabster]

Bustakita Yancey Thank you so much! xxx

[@09weenic]

Ruth you are correct , no one really heard of the event till years later . I live in Scotland and only read last year about the tragedy.

[@98Tabster]

09weenic Thank you so much for this. I had a bit of a hard time from someone who said there is no “silence of Summerland” and never has been. Yet the same person took 40 years to come forward and talk about it... It was to be the title of book one and I changed it to Made in Summerland. I had a stroke last November and these days I wouldn’t let myself be bullied. Life is too short! x

[@09weenic]

Ruth McQuillan I will look out for the book . All the best

[@98Tabster]

09weenic Thanks so much! xx

[@paulr301]

Ruth, my heart goes out for those like yourself & others caught up in this terrible tragedy. I had never heard of Summerland until a few weeks ago. I was in the same class at school with one of the youngest victims, Amanda Moulds. Though I was only 10 at the time, I couldn't really comprehend at the time just how horrific it was for the entire Moulds family. Later in life when I would pass by her house when I visited the UK (I now live in New Zealand), I would think about how awfull it was for them all. But I thought they died in a hotel fire in Blackpool, it wasn't until a few weeks I saw a documentary on the Grenfield tower, it suddenly clicked about Summerland. I was shocked about what I heard about - highly flammable building materials, blocked fire exits, no fire brigade call until 20 minutes & no one being charged over such a dangerous design of a building. Should the tragedy be forgotten? Absolutely not! There are key lessons here which can't be ignored, yet some were with the Grenfield tower. Keep up the good work, and I love the comment about you would not be bullied - You go for it Ruth!!!

[@markhorton2920]

I remember news of the Summerland disaster was quite extensive on Granada TV at the time. I was 7 years old at the time and it made a big impact on my memory. We went on holiday to the Isle of Man in 1974 and we walked past the wreckage which was behind plywood fencing. It made such an impression that I can still remember it vividly. I can totally understand why the survivors would have nightmares about it to this day. I have the deepest respect and sympathy for Ruth McQuillan and her struggle with the aftermath and also trying to keep the memory of the people who died in the disaster alive.

[@susancorlett9768]

Was in Summerland a few days before the fire happened with my two brothers. Dad put us in there thinking we were safe.

[@98Tabster]

There were design faults yes but always remember that the fire in the kiosk outside was started deliberately. The young staff tried to fight the blaze themselves and delayed getting help. The building and lives would have been saved otherwise. Please don’t think badly of Summerland. It was built with the best of intentions and with limited knowledge of new materials. It’s the way things were then. It might still be there now if not for 3 lads intent on mischief.

[@susancorlett9768]

Appreciate what you do to get the Summerland Fire more better known. Just stumbled on this a few days ago. Don't think badly of Summerland at all,we were on holiday from Manchester at the time,and we are from the Isle of Man originally. All best wishes.❤️

[@dizzydevil547]

Ruth i was only 3 yrs old when summerland happened so was too young to remember it. Being from Lancashire where a LOT of families spent their holidays in the Isle of man back then i was surprised i had not heard of it till much later in life ..prob my 20s (im now 50 this yr) ad you are quite right in what you say there was a silence about it and to an extent still is ...even though they have now put up a memorial (40 yrs too late in my view ) most folks don't know the story of summerland and even less of the younger generation that live in the Isle of man now! ..i have looked around on the interweb for more info on it ect so i can let people know about it ....just done that with someone from San Fransisco in the U.S.A on a video on here about their sutro baths that burned down ( that was a similar but longer lived recreational/ baths complex much like summerland ) thankfully it was closed at the time! ...and they commented they wanted to know more about summerland so i posted some yt links and the wikipedia link to them .......I'ts so sad and makes me angry sometimes that this gets forgotten about as it's an insult to the memory of those 50 people and their families that perished that night as well as an insult to the survivors who after the event had to go through so much pain and anguish trying to come to terms with what happened and try to recover from it!

[@98Tabster]

Are you on messenger Sean? xx

[@dizzydevil547]

Hi @@98Tabster yep as in facebook messenger? sean l burgess ;)

[@nwlman]

I was 4 when this happened,

[@daviddavids5088]

Sad day for the Manx people so many People died REST IN PEACE

[@98Tabster]

It was very sad but the Manx folk rallied round and came to the aid of the injured and bereaved. We can never thank them enough.

[@adrianmannion6740]

I was outside at the crazy golf course on that day. I was 9 years old, and Holliday with my parents and sister. I watched an employee trying to pull bac k the burn ING embers of the ticket hut away from the building. Next thing, theoraglass went up in flames, and was soon out of control. I escaped down the concrete stairway, and was reunighted with my family. As I was a witness to the fire starting, my dad took me to the police station, in Douglas, and gave a full statement. We never heard anything ba k from them.

[@conniethomas4753]

It was soo awful and sadly I @ 43 had no idea about this until maybe 4/5 years ago. Ruth you are a lady.

[@98Tabster]

Connie thank you so much! All those years of silence were hard to bear. It was so lonely. I felt as if we’d been forgotten and I know other survivors and some relatives of those who died felt the same. Now it’s like being part of a big family. There’s always someone to talk to and words can’t express how much that means! 😀xxx

[@bjoe385]

She looks good for 50.

[@98Tabster]

I had a stroke just a couple of months after. Apparently I’d hurt my neck at some point and suffered a dissected vertebral artery. Unable to walk at 5 because of the fire and off my feet again at 50! I’m fighting back but always waiting for the next blow 😞

[@bjoe385]

Ruth McQuillan ah well it’s no big secret that fate doesn’t care for our past, if we’ve had heaven or hell we rarely get what we deserve. Maybe one day everything will become clear to us or maybe I’m just crazy. Whatever is the case I wish you the best.

[@98Tabster]

Thanks Jeff! No you aren’t crazy at all. I definitely landed in hell this time. Just when I think things are changing for the better I get another prod with the pitchfork 😏 Yes, hopefully all will become clear eventually... xx

[@twitchygiraffe4636]

It seems to me this incident/disaster was brushed under the carpet, so companies in the future could carry on building leisure centres and cladding towers in crap similar to this because it was cheap to use, not like the fire retardant stuff which will have saved many lives because it just wouldn’t go up in flames in the first place, and to profit making organisations life is always cheap isn’t it?!

[@thingsido5571]

I don't want to be a terrible person but I believe that part of the reason it was forgotten was the guilt and the fact that it could never be built in the mainland uk

[@bjoe385]

It was so easily preventable this it was so very embarrassing for those implicated, I’d like to think on the 2nd of August 2023 there will be some sort of news broadcasts in memorial across the whole U.K.

[@98Tabster]

@@bjoe385 What steps do you feel might have been taken to prevent it Jeff? (The “big” anniversaries like the 40th and 45th were broadcast in the UK and the IoM. I think that’s the case with a lot of tragic events apart from the World Wars. It’s interesting because I thought at first that everyone involved would want a very public remembrance but there are quite a few people who were injured or who lost loved ones that prefer to remember in private.

[@bjoe385]

@@98Tabster In terms of what could have been done I’ve thought about the matter a lot, I imagined myself in a boardroom with all the designers and administrators, I’m standing in front with an old baking tray with a small piece of oroglas, decalin and colour galbestos and I’d set them alight with a match. I’d show them all the mistake they were about to make. Sounds crazy I know. My time travelling fantasies aside I believe there are thousands of things that could have been done from using steel sheeting or concrete instead of colour galbestos or standard glass or a different plastic compound instead of oroglas. Change the decalin for a different insulation as well. Though this would have been more expensive. What if there were sprinklers, more robust fire alarm systems and emergency lights. What if the kids hadn’t got into the partially assembled kiosk? What if it had been packed away? Had all the exits been unlocked and free of obstruction would as many have perished? Had the staff taken the more modern approach when the fire was fist discovered and ordered an immediate evacuation many could have been saved. I wonder what would have happened to Summerland had the fire not occurred, would another disaster have unfolded later on? Would the building be either closed or have all the decalin, oroglas and colour galbestos replaced? Would it be open today? I don’t remember anything on the news in the last 10 years or so about Summerland, but that’s probably more my fault “you’ve got a head like a sieve” as my father would say. I hope there’s something for the 50th anniversary though.

[@bjoe385]

@@98Tabster Ah, I never knew that about the boys. I’m sorry to hear about your carpal tunnel and your stroke but yes, I’d like a chat too. I’ve read “The Little Yellow Kiosk” which I liked. I suppose they could have used some sort of acoustic absorbing material, a bit like what they have in recording studios and sound laboratories, they could have argued the interlocking triangle bumps where a design feature too.

[@bjoe385]

@@98TabsterI’d officially blame them, I’d have it written on the reports that it was started by them but I wouldn’t have any charges bought upon them, I wouldn’t hold them responsible. It was an accident, they didn’t mean it and they won’t do anything like that again, they will always have the weight of fifty lives dragging them down, I think they learned their lesson and any punishment is unnecessary. Although it was technically the cause it shouldn’t have spread into the building. The kids were the cause but the architects and managers are to blame in a moral sense.

[@markrichards636]

Sad, and yet no one was to blame?!

[@98Tabster]

Human error. And as the report concluded - not everything that was obvious when the tragedy had put “people and structure to the test” would have been obvious before. “The past is a foreign country, they do things differently there.”

[@steuk6510]

@@98Tabster there's Lot's off error to modern day we still not learn its very easy to blame it on some children to protect big cooperation I have begin trapped in a fire our heater oil filled radiator electric one fire alarm and I fire safety trained I do science and medicine I was scared Lucky fire service arrived my mum was trapped in front room still very scary Lucky no one was hurt and I nearly 40 and I studied fire investigation it must be very hard for a 5 year old our doors have twist lock doors so I can open them in an emergency