What an awful thing to happen. I was involved in an incident in the 80's that has haunted me for many years. One of my best mates was the Steward of our local Working Men's Club but due to a bad "ticker " he had to retire. I was helping to run a Country Music Night at the Club and we had the rare chance to bring RCA Victor recording artist Steve Young in from the USA. Among the many songs he wrote the epic " Seven Bridges Road" was probably his best. We brought a top band from the North West Bob McKinley and Dixie Fried in to support what was Steves last gig in the UK before flying back to the States the next day. During the interval my mate Cleggy ( the former Steward) went to talk to some of his former regulars in the bar. As compère for the night I was alerted that something was wrong. Cleggy had had a massive coronary and despite the best efforts of members of Hatfield Coliery Mines Rescue who were in the Club that night, was declared dead by the Paramedics who attended him. The lads who helped me run the night got together with the Club Secretary and President and decided that the show should continue and I wasn't to make any announcement until I was closing the show at the end of the night. I was in bits for the rest of the night , but managed to struggle on. With about 15 minutes of the Show remaining, I was alerted that there was a disturbance in the bar. I went into the room to find Cleggy's son who was my mate with his mates fighting with Committee men. He saw me and called me all the names under the sun, because by allowing the night to continue in his view I had disrespected his Dad's memory. I have had to live with that thought from that day to this. I was absolutely gutted because I thought the world of Cleggy. I took some comfort from the fact that the majority of people who knew Cleggy as a mate said that he would have wanted the show to go on and it was right that it did. I made an effort to meet Lois Cleggy's widow and family and ask their forgiveness which was forthcoming. Lois gave me some comfort by saying that it was the right decision to let the show go on. After all these years I'm still not sure that it was.
Totally agree it was the correct decision. Heard no-one complaining as I left the West Stand. I am sure most people's thoughts were with the medivac and their family.