Les Ferdinand tells Grenfell community: It is okay to ask for help

Former England footballer Les Ferdinand urged the Grenfell community to seek help if they feel overwhelmed when they give evidence to the public inquiry.

Survivors of the tower block fire, those who lost friends and family and local residents will be called on to share their memories of the blaze from Wednesday.

It will be the first time they have given oral evidence in the probe since May, when two emotional weeks of commemoration hearings in memory of the tragedy’s 72 victims took place.

Mr Ferdinand said he had been following the inquiry, which is focusing on the night of the fire in its first phase, and had found the stories that had come out of it so far “heartwrenching”.

He told the Press Association: “When you go through those emotions again it will bring up things that you thought might have been buried inside you and you’ve hidden away, so they’ll come to the surface again.

“I’d plead with them not to try and hold on to them, to seek help and advice – and there’s so much help out there now, where people can go and just talk, and just talking sometimes can make people feel so much better. And because that facility is there now I’d implore people to look at using it.”

The ex-striker, who grew up near to the tower on the Lancaster West estate, said his impression was the community will only be able to heal when it sees justice.

He said: “People are still angry. Once this inquiry is out the way and we find out what the results of this will be, I think it’s not until then that we’ll really see what the healing process will be for people.

“Sometimes you need to draw a line under something, and I don’t think they’re quite there yet, and they won’t be until the inquiry is done.”

Mr Ferdinand, who organised a charity football match to raise money for the Grenfell community, has since been working with the Central and North West London (CNWL) NHS Trust to create a virtual reality mindfulness video.

In it, the ex striker recalls the “nervousness, anxiety and adrenaline” he felt ahead of his first ever England match, from the changing room to the pitch.

He is hoping the candid admission of his pre-match nerves will encourage those affected that “it is okay to ask for help”.

He said: “There was (also) the emotion of doubt. When you are in that situation, lots of young men dream about being professional footballers, and playing for England and (at) Wembley, but there’s still a doubt that comes into your mind when you’re thrust into it about whether you’re going to cope with this, whether you’re going to be able to do this.

“And for a long time in football you had to kind of hide those emotions, and everyone expects ‘oh wow you’re going to go play for England so it must be just all excitement and happy times’, but it’s not always the case.

“In recent years it’s become more prevalent that there are mental health issues in football, and people are getting help for it, and that’s making their lives a lot better.

“So what this message is hopefully going to give out to people is, it’s okay to come forward and say ‘I’ve got a problem here and I need help’. These people have gone through a real tragic time.”

The ex striker also recalled how he was left “dazed for days” after seeing the smouldering tower for the first time.

He said he got out of his car and “stood there in disbelief”, while remembering the times he had run up and down its stairs with his friends as a child.