Surprise heroes change attitude

THE Manchester bombing will continue to dominate headlines as the police continue their investigation and, sadly, as more of those killed are identified. As the flood of stories from the tragedy continues, two in particular caught my eye.

The stories detailed the heroic actions of two homeless men who were near the scene at the time of the bombing. One was in the foyer of the Manchester Arena waiting for the concert to finish so he could beg for money as the audience filtered out.

When the bomb went off, the force of it knocked Chris Parker to the ground. Once he had collected himself, he went in to help. One woman died in his arms and he helped another child who had lost her legs in the blast.

The second man, Stephen Jones, was sleeping outside the arena at the time. He also ran to the site to help the concert-goers escape.

These men are heroes. It is a reminder that homeless people are as valuable in society as anyone else. And they, too, have emotional (and brave) reactions to what is happening around them. I think that is something easy to forget, or ignore, when we see rough sleepers in our own cities and towns.

But David Drury has not forgotten. He is trying to give rough sleepers a decent night’s rest by getting us to use our rewards points to buy them quality sleeping bags.

Read more about this inspiring movement in this edition of Weekend.

Also in this Weekend, two people share their stories of living with cystic fibrosis. Cystic fibrosis sufferer Renee Falconer also highlights the importance of organ donation.

And for those with a sweet tooth, you can have your cake and eat it, too, in this Weekend.

Enjoy the read.