Coming face-to-face with Grenfell

While travelling through London in the back of a taxi on a Tuesday afternoon, I unexpectedly came face-to-face with the charred remains of Grenfell Tower.

My first thought. “Woah! What’s that?” Such was the shock of being faced with the charred shell, that for a split second I had questioned what it was, before quickly realising that it could only be Grenfell.

The haunting wreckage stood out like a sore thumb among the Capital’s landscape, looking more like a building from a war-torn country. A vision of nightmares. A devastating reminder of all those lives lost.

I was immediately struck by the sheer scale of the tower – it’s huge! A lot bigger than it had appeared on TV or in images, which then led me to think of all those people – men, women, families, children – trapped inside, fearing for their lives. How they must have felt on that fateful day.

While sitting in the comfort of my own home reading stories about how firefighters battled to make it to the top of the building in a desperate plea to save lives, I could only imagine the challenge they faced, but now, having seen the size of the tower, I realise how difficult that must have been.

It’s been six weeks since the blaze and yet the tragedy still remains etched in our minds. Seeing the building in the flesh like that has really brought home the devastation and severity of the incident, one that we now know didn’t have to happen.

Cadisha Brown, senior media and pr officer