‘The Birmingham pub bombings affected my whole life’

Minutes later, the Tavern went black.

“There isn’t a sound when you’re that close to a bomb of those proportions,” she said.

“It overtakes your whole body. It’s a vibration, but it’s not a fast vibration. It’s a deep underground sort of vibration that goes through your body.”

She felt herself propelled forward, but fell unconscious. When she woke up, she was surrounded by rubble and burning fragments of phosphorus.

“The wagon wheel pushed me forward. Maybe it saved me, maybe it covered me, protected me from more of the blast,” she said.

“My instinct just said get out, get out, get out, and I just climbed and climbed towards the light at the top [of the stairs].”