Manchester’s resolve inspiring, says visitor from Calgary
Enjoying a vacation intended to be a graduation present for her son, a Calgary woman got a humbling lesson in the perseverance of the human spirit after tragedy.
Before arriving home in Calgary on Friday, Trish Exton-Parder and her son spent the past two weeks in the northwestern British city of Manchester — bearing witness to the aftermath of Monday’s terrorist suicide bombing that killed 22 people at a nearby pop concert.
“It’s one of those moments where you realize how close you were to getting into the thick of things,” she said.
The trip was intended to be a treat for her 18-year-old son, an avid supporter of the Manchester United football team.
After spending much of the day in nearby Liverpool, the weary pair boarded a 9:30 p.m. train to return to Manchester — a trip scheduled to arrive in the city an hour later.
As they sat on a train headed to Victoria station, Manchester’s main terminal, another passenger suggested they should board a train destined for the city’s Piccadilly station, a much closer walk to their hotel.
“Had we stayed on that Victoria train, I don’t know what would have been the scene at the end of that ride,” said Exton-Parder, who is a spokeswoman for the Calgary Zoo.
Victoria Station, in the city’s north end, is immediately adjacent to Manchester Arena, the scene of the attack that also injured 116 people, many of them children.
Exiting Piccadilly station at 10:30 p.m., they weren’t immediately aware of the tragedy taking place on the other side of Manchester.
It wasn’t until they got back to their hotel that she learned of the attack in an instant message from a colleague in Calgary.
“Once you hear this is happening just minutes away from you, you stay gripped,” she said, recalling the sound of helicopters filling the skies over Manchester as her most vivid recollection of that night.
As the sun rose the next morning over Manchester, she and her son encountered a shocked city reeling from the previous night’s horrific attack.
“When you realize that there were so many people killed and what this concert’s demographic was, and here we were so close to it all and literally out in the community a few hours before, you just start to cry,” she said.
“We got to know the people of Manchester, and the passion and pride they have for their city.”
It’s that fierce pride shared by that city’s residents — and all Britons — in the following days that stands out most in Exton-Parder’s memory.
“You could sure feel the warmth from everybody that was there to the residents of the city,” she said in an interview.
“We talked to many of the folks both working at the hotel and while we had breakfast.”
Although they considered cutting their trip short, they decided to carry on, drawing inspiration from the strength and determination they encountered from city residents.
“You carry on in life — this isn’t something that any of us are letting stopping us from living, that was a pretty strong sentiment from everybody,” she said.
“That’s what they (the terrorists) want us to do — be paranoid — but that’s not how we should live.
“That’s become ever so clear.”