The bells of three churches chimed across the City Centre at 10.31 exactly one year after the explosion at the Manchester Arena, bringing an end to an emotional day in Manchester.
Earlier thousands had gathered in the late evening sunshine in Albert Square to take part in a mass singalong to mark the City’s defiance against terrorism led by 3,000 choir singers.
Among those performing were the Manchester Survivors choir made up of people who had attended the concert at Manchester Arena one year ago as well as The Parrs Wood High School’s Harmony Group who famously appeared at the One Love concert at the Old Trafford cricket ground, a month after the terror attack.
The evening ended with a mass singalong to hits including Oasis’ Don’t Look Back in Anger, Elbow’s One Day Like This and Ariana Grande’s One Last Time
The concert was hosted by Coronation Street actress Jennie McAlpine and began with an address by the Lord Mayor of Manchester, Cllr June Hitchen,the Bishop of Manchester, the Right Revd.David Walker and the poet Lemn Sissay who read from his poem Let there be Peace which included the lines
“Let there be peace so storms can go out to sea to be angry”
Crowds stayed in the City Centre after the singalong to wait for the moment of the exact anniversary of the moment Salman Abedi denotated his bomb.
Words and lyrics were projected onto St Ann’s Church as dusk fell turning the building into brilliant colours of reds,yellows, purples,greens and blues before the crowd hushed as 10.31 approached and the bells of the church rang out to mark the moment.
After the ringing, spontaneous applause broke out bringing a difficult day to the City of Manchester to a close
