Grenfell: Six years on ‘We still have to face the trauma of Grenfell every day’

For survivors of the west London fire, the tower continues to cast a heavy shadow over their lives. Katie Strick visits a community seeking answers over a tragedy that still feels painfully fresh

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IT’S the most important anniversary, I think, until we get to 10 years,” Melanie Juno Wolfe says as she helps a tree surgeon pin emerald green fabric around a tree in the shadow of Grenfell Tower.

The founder of North Kensington Community Kitchen and her army of helpers have been stationed here every day for weeks now, hanging paintings by local schoolchildren and adding new tributes to the memorial wall that has long been seen as a visible symbol of the grief felt by the west London community in the wake of the tragedy that was the Grenfell Tower fire.

Today, June 14, marks six years since the capital woke up to news of the disaster and for locals like Wolfe, the events of that night still dominate their lives — and this week in particular. Six years, it transpires, is the equivalent of 72 months — the same as the number of people who lost their lives that day in 2017, the UK’s deadliest residential fire since the Second World War. A fresh tribute on the wall sums up the collective mood: “72 loved ones, 72 months on... 6 years and counting on justice”.

And counting, indeed. Much has changed since the events of June 2017 — new homes for the survivors, new cladding legislation, visits from A-listers and royalty — but much more has not. The burnt-out carcass of the tower still stands draped in ‘forever in our hearts’ slogans; a permanent reminder of the great shadow cast over the community.