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BBCDuring every day of the Notting Hill Carnival since 2017, the loud music coming from the sound programs is briefly turned off.
People are inspired to respect a brief 72-second silence – one for every of the lives misplaced within the Grenfell Tower hearth over seven years in the past.
At many factors alongside the west London parade route, Grenfell Tower is clearly seen.
The Grenfell tragedy on 14 June 2017 has had an ideal affect on the local people concerned with the carnival ever since. Many of them have robust connections.
In just some weeks the Grenfell Tower Inquiry’s remaining report into what led to the hearth – and who was accountable for what was described within the public inquiry as an “avoidable tragedy” – will probably be printed.
For households who misplaced their family members and have been combating for justice for them ever because it occurred, the report’s publication will probably be a big milestone.
Family handout Raymond Bernard, whose nickname was Moses, lived on the highest flooring of Grenfell Tower for greater than 30 years. He got here to London in 1968 from the Caribbean island of Trinidad.
After leaving faculty in Ladbroke Grove he educated as {an electrical} engineer and for a few years labored within the Houses of Parliament.
His youthful sister Bernadette Bernard, who calls him Ray, says music was all the time his old flame.
“He all the time had music taking part in from the second he woke, largely reggae,” she says.
As a younger man Raymond was a DJ and was concerned within the Gemini Sound System.
They would play at events and golf equipment in London, notably the Embassy Club in Shepherd’s Bush.
According to household pal Jackie Leger, the annual Notting Hill Carnival over the August Bank Holiday was a spotlight.
“He would all the time go to carnival. It allowed him to reconnect together with his roots, reconnect with being born in Trinidad listening to Soca music after which coming to the UK and understanding extra of the reggae music,” she explains.
Jackie says she regarded Ray as a brother and calls him a “well-loved” member of the local people in Grenfell Tower.
“He was such a form particular person. He would share his final with anyone and he didn’t have very a lot himself,” she says.
“He was very type, gracious, he was simply pretty and a stunning human being to different human beings.”
In his later years, Raymond typically walked with a stick and had extreme arthritis.
He was inseparable from his beloved canine Marley, a small spaniel named after Reggae icon Bob Marley.
In proof given to the inquiry Ray was praised as a hero – a modern-day Moses.
On the evening of the hearth he sheltered quite a few individuals in his one-bedroom flat on the twenty third flooring.
Getty ImagesSome had dialled 999 and had been informed to remain within the tower and wait to be rescued.
The transcripts of these determined calls had been submitted to the inquiry and make horrific studying.
Many had been discovered to have collapsed from the poisonous fumes or suffocated with the extreme smoke.
Forensic specialists concluded lots of Ray’s neighbours died huddled on his mattress. Ray was discovered on the ground. He was 63 years previous.
“He was very well-known in Grenfell Tower, everyone knew who Moses was,” says Jackie.
“He was a counsellor, a very good pal and he was an ideal neighbour and that was the testomony to him on the evening of the hearth. People who had been in his condominium on the time of their demise – he taken care of them. He was an ideal particular person,” she provides.
His sister Bernadette has put in a memorial bench as a tribute to Ray on Powis Square, near The Tabarnacle in Notting Hill.
It’s a key location for the carnival celebrations and someplace Ray in his youthful years would usually go.
On it, the phrases are inscribed: “In loving reminiscence of Raymond AKA Moses Bernard. A frontrunner, a protector, who protected like no different. Moses is his identify.”
“If Moses had been nonetheless with us, he can be spherical by the sound programs listening to the music chatting to his buddies, he can be having fun with it the identical means everybody else enjoys carnival,” says Jackie.
Speaking concerning the silences noticed to recollect Grenfell victims throughout carnival that occur at 15:00 BST every day, Bernadette says: “It’s necessary for us.
“It not solely exhibits respect for the victims and their households, it is a means of remembering what truly occurred at Grenfell and the affect it is had on the bereaved survivors and the group as an entire.”
Jackie agrees along with her, saying it reminds carnival-goers to not “overlook about what occurred seven years in the past.
“Always maintain these victims in your ideas, in your minds and in your hearts.”
After years of ready, the ultimate report from the inquiry will probably be made public in a couple of weeks. It’s hoped it is going to be a big step within the struggle for justice.
Like many different households, survivors and native residents in North Kensington, the 2 ladies are anxiously ready for its findings.
“No one would have thought seven years on, we’d simply be ending part two of the report,” says Jackie.
“No one thought it might take this lengthy, we all know it’ll take even longer,” she provides.
The Bernard household have given testimony on the inquiry and attended lots of the hearings.
They additionally sat by way of the cross examination of a few of those that labored for firms and organisations who’re a part of what was described within the inquiry as being a part of the “internet of blame”.
“None of the defendants are taking accountability for his or her actions,” says Bernadette.
“They are all making an attempt to cross the buck in order that nobody says sure I made this determination figuring out that ought to a fireplace happen it might be considered one of full devastation.”
All the organisations and firms have submitted proof to the Grenfell Tower Public Inquiry, with the ultimate report because of be printed on 4 September.
