FOLLOWING the 60th anniversary of the Munich air disaster fans come together again to reflect on the loss of the Busby Babes, in a talk covering Manchester United throughout 1958.

Writers of “The Day Two Teams Died” Roy Cavanagh MBE and Carl Abbott

The speakers were Salford’s own Roy Cavanagh MBE, co-writer Carl Abbot and Sean Kelly from FC United of Manchester, giving many stories and extracts from the lives of the team and the journalists who died alongside them in the Munich air disaster.

Swinton Library and the Sporting Memories Network work together to provide these events monthly, seeing a wide variety of speakers on many topics.

The Munich air disaster occurred on 6 February 1958, and saw 23 deaths, including eight team members and eight journalists.

Mr Cavanagh has been invested in the world of Manchester United since he was a child, living only five minutes away from the grounds, going on to write many books on the team, and multiple on the players involved in the Munich crash.

 

Mr Cavanagh said; “These were people who were a ray of light in a very grey world.

“It was like a death in the family.”

 

The Busby Babes prior to the Munich Crash.

The focus of the newest book, “The Day Two Teams Died”, is the journalist casualties, Mr Abbot speaking at the talk about these figures in greater detail.

Mr Abbot said: “The biggest funeral of all was Henry Rose’s, 4000 people went to this funeral.

“1000 Taxi drivers drove people for free, it’s absolutely incredible to think about that.”

Mr Kelly brought with him a wide variety of memorabilia from the team, from news clippings to photos and even signatures from nearly the whole team present on the plane before the crash.

The Sporting Memories group aim to be tackling dementia, depression and loneliness through gathering together and sharing sporting stories from their past.

The group meets at Swinton Library, on the first Monday of every month and offer talks and free refreshment between 2-4pm.

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