30 years ago today I couldn't have been happier. The next day that all changed as the whole world watched.

[dunblanemum]

30 years ago today i had two beautiful children, a new job i loved and we were thinking about moving house. Then the next day my eldest daughter went to school and did not return. On that snowy morning in the quiet town of Dunblane she was one of the children shot and killed as she had fun in her gym class.

I still remember that day like it was yesterday and it still hurts, but life has gone on and i have a lot to be grateful for. In my own life things have mostly been good. We had an another child and both my children are now adults living fulfilling, happy lives. My husband and I are retired and enjoying a life of leisure and travel. Our successful campaign at the time to ban handguns means there has never been another shooting in a British school. That we have made the lives of innumerable children safer, makes me content.

I wanted to post as i think people often wonder how parents who have lost children in terrible circumstances manage to go on. I think the only thing i can say is that you get through it, minute by minute, hour by hour, day by day. Then those days turn into months then years and before you know here we are 30 year on. So the short answer probably is that time gets you through it. Plus greta friends and a lot of wine! Tears and laughter is how i survived.

I am not expecting anything from this post. I just wanted to write it down as i find myself alone this afternoon and pondering on it all.

I was 18 and working in a newsagents at the time. I remember seeing all those lovely little faces on the front pages. We were told to take shooting magazines off the shelves. My son was born later that year so will be 30. Tearing up at the memory.

Like others, I remember listening to the news with horror and was in awe of your collective strength in the days and months that followed.
Sending you love and no small amount of gratitude for your work in banning handguns. I have no doubt that this has saved lives. 💐

She sounds wonderful, as does her wee pal. Sending all my love to you and your family.

I am so so sorry, i live in Stirling and we will never forget them.

I am so sorry for your loss 💐

I cannot imagine the strength of grief that must have swept over your community. I am so, so sorry.

Your daughter sounds like a wonderful character.

I don’t think we as a country will ever forget Dunblane. Thank you for your strength in all the work that went on in the aftermath to ban handguns. You undoubtedly have saved many lives.

Thinking of you….and all bereaved mothers 💕

I remember. I’m so sorry for your loss. Your daughter sounds amazing.

Thank you for letting us know that you have been able to move on, though of course not forget. An event beyond our worst nightmares.

I was teaching 5 yr olds at the time. It was so difficult to process even without knowing any of the families involved. Such a horrific event.

Thank you to you and all the fellow campaigners who managed to get gun laws tightened.
Your heart must stop every time you hear of the continuation of such happenings in America.

Every parents’s worst ever nightmare! So sorry for the loss of your daughter. Don’t know what else to say except you are in my thoughts. Love to you and your family.

I was 11 when it happened and I’ve never forgotten that day.

Love to your and your family xxx

I’m so sorry and thank you for campaigning, and making it safer for children

I remember and I think about that terrible day occasionally and have wondered how the parents and community have coped . Am so sorry that you and other families had to experience such an atrocity 💐X

Oh OP, I can't even begin to imagine what you've been through. I'm so sorry for your loss, but I'm glad that you've found a way to carry on living in a positive way. Thinking of you and all of the other families tomorrow.

It’s one of those events that was so horrific that people remember where they were and what they were doing when they heard the news. It was absolutely chilling. Your daughter sounds like a lovely little soul OP.

Sending love to you
I am Scottish , was pregnant at the time of this tragedy and remember it well
My heart ached for you then and aches for you now
Irrelevant, but was also pregnant when James Bulger was murdered and that affected me badly too. So much evil in the world . 💔

I had just found out i was pregnant with my 1st baby and i was so happy .
I then watched the tv with horror at what he did and sobbed for those precious children and their teacher, i cannot begin to imagine the pain you and the other families have been through and continue to live with , i cannot imagine what would go through someones mind to commit such an act.
I have never forgotten your children and never will ,i am so sorry for your loss.
I am so proud that you got handguns banned , how many atrocities have you saved from doing so - Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Thank you for posting, I am so sorry for the loss of your daughter 💐

The campaign to ban handguns has truly saved so many other lives & prevented another similar tragedy in the intervening years

In 1996 I was a teenager at school, I still remember that day so clearly, my mum in tears when I got home, Mother’s Day around the corner

Today I’m a mother of 2 children primary aged, just watching the reports about it 30 years on makes me cry, thinking how all you parents must have felt when it was your own child, I cannot fathom that 😢

Wishing you well 💓

We remember them, always. I can’t see the first snowdrops of spring without tearing up. We light a candle every anniversary, and keep the wee ones and their brave, brilliant teacher in our thoughts.

I am so very sorry for your loss, and so very grateful for all you did in the aftermath. Never again. Xxx

Thank you for this and thank you for making our schools so much safer x.
I live a few miles away from Dunblane. I remember that day, i was 21, my nephew was 6 and I remember sobbing in the toilet of my new boyfriends mums house and my dad had to come and collect me. I remember it so clearly and am crying now, for you writing this.
I'm so glad you have managed to have a good life and long may it continue. Xx
Much love to you and your family x

Thank you for posting and telling us about your daughter, she sounds wonderful. And thank you for campaigning when you must have been in so much pain.

I’m glad you are able to think of her and smile.

I remember the day after, sitting with the newspaper open, looking at the class photograph which was so utterly normal and just like every other primary 1 class photo and now was a photograph that would never be forgotten. I just could not comprehend what had happened and the level of loss.

We all in the UK owe you and the other families a debt of gratitude for campaigning in the face of your unimaginable grief to make us all safer.

Gosh I'm so sorry OP. What a devastating thing to happen in your life. I suppose life had to go on for your other children. But no doubt you think of your gorgeous girl every day. I'm glad that you had amazing people around you. Do you remember waving her goodbye that day, do you think back to the last time you saw her much?

I was 10 and remember having to do intruder/shooter drills in the immediate aftermath (our school was only an hour or so along the road).

I thank you and the other families for turning darkness into light and ensuring my own children will never have that experience.

I remember this so well. My thoughts are with you and your family.
your hard work changed the whole trajectory of guns in the uk. You achieved so much despite the pain xx

I remember that awful, shocking day. Thank you for your strength in the face of such a terrible loss, who knows how many other children have been saved due to your campaigning. 💐

I remember 🥀