Reflective time for Glasgow in wake of tragedy

Archbishop of Glasgow Philip Tartaglia has reflected on a “year of joy and sorrow” for the city in his new year message.

The archbishop said tragedies such as the fatal bin lorry accident last week which killed six people and last year’s Clutha disaster had cast a shadow, but there had also been “positive and inspiring” moments of light during the Commonwealth Games and independence referendum.

He previously told a service in honour of the victims of last week’s George Square bin lorry crash that he had wept with Jacqueline McQuade, who saw her teenage daughter Erin and parents Jack and Lorraine Sweeney die “almost right in front of her”.

The Archbishop’s message said: “Alas we begin this new year in the shadow of death.

“The terrible accident in George Square, Glasgow, which shocked and saddened us just before Christmas, seemed to echo the tragic event of a year earlier when a helicopter fell from the sky on to the Clutha Bar.

“The shock of both events casts a long shadow — a shadow which cannot be banished by the sound of the bells or the clinking glasses of New Year toasts.

“Yet as we look back and look forward we must also recall more positive and inspiring moments.

Meanwhile, the parents of a 14-year-old girl injured in the bin lorry tragedy have described their joy as she continues to recover. Alix Stewart is one of three people still in hospital after last week’s city centre accident in which six people died and 10 others were injured.

Alix had just left her mother Jacqueline, 43, and sister Emily, 16, to meet friends when she was hit by the out-of-control lorry.

Her father, Colin Stewart, 48,

told the Evening Times: “She is strong. She is a brave wee fighter.

“Of course, our thoughts and prayers are with the families who have lost someone. We realise how lucky we are and how lucky Alix is.”

The teenager was caught up underneath the vehicle and dragged along Queen St, suffering broken bones and kidney and liver damage as wll as a severe injury to her ear.

On the evening of the crash she underwent surgery before being moved to a high dependency ward.

A 57-year-old man, who is understood to be the driver of the lorry, is reported to be also stable at the city’s Western Infirmary.