National Post (National Edition)
‘The awful thing was everyone was so young’
Queen visits young victims in hospital
MANCHESTER, England • In a few simple words during a visit to the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital to meet the young victims of the terrorist bombing, the Queen encapsulated the horror of an attack that has left the nation reeling.
“It’s dreadful, very wicked, to target that sort of thing,” the Queen told 14-year-old Evie Mills, who was lying on her hospital bed with a teddy bear by her side and a blanket shrouding her injured chest and legs.
The Queen later added, as she toured the children’s ward viewing the carnage of Monday night’s attack: “The awful thing was that everyone was so young.”
During her 65-year reign, the Queen has occasionally made visits to hospitals to help lead the nation in moments of national grieving. She did so after the 7/7 terror attacks in London and also to meet servicemen and women injured fighting for their country. But never have so many children been among the victims.
There are 14 in-patients remaining at the hospital following the attack, including five in critical condition.
Among those continuing to recover was Millie Robson, 15, who was still wearing her Ariana Grande concert T-shirt. Her legs were badly wounded in the blast and before she was rushed to hospital first-responders used handbags as tourniquets.
Millie told the Queen she went to the concert with a friend who was also injured in the attack after winning VIP tickets to meet her idol.
The Queen responded: “She sounds a very, very good singer.”
Since Monday evening’s bombings, Manchester has struggled to come to terms with the horror of what took place. But Thursday, the famous city of music reached deep into its soul to help bind its wounds.
At 11 a.m. — as the country fell silent to think of those killed and maimed in the attack — a crowd several thousand strong gathered in St Ann’s Square in the centre of Manchester.
After observing a oneminute silence, those present broke into a round of spontaneous applause. Then a lone voice began to sing Don’t Look Back in Anger, by the Mancunian band Oasis. The impromptu song rippled through the crowd, gaining in size and strength.
It was started by Lydia Bernsmeier-Rullow, 32, who said: “It felt beautiful and I got goose pimples all over me.
“It was only a few people singing at first, then everybody joined in. People hugged me and thanked me but I didn’t think it was anything in particular.”
Bernsmeier-Rullow said she hadn’t planned to sing the song before attending the vigil, but its lyrics had been in her head ever since the attack.
“Don’t look back in anger is a very Mancunian sentiment,” she said. “We don’t hate. We love.”
The song has become the city’s unofficial anthem of defiance. The sound system at Manchester Piccadilly rail station also played it after staff and passengers observed the one-minute silence, while earlier this week, students at Chetham’s School of Music, close to the arena where 22 people died, broke into a rendition in tribute to the victims.
Natalie Earley, 21, who was in St Ann’s Square yesterday with three generations of her family, said she spent the previous evening blasting the Oasis song — and other Manchester bands — out of her bedroom window.
“It is so difficult to think about what has happened and not be angry but that is what we are going to have to do,” she said. “The only positive out of this terrible situation is to see how people have come together.”
Among those signing a book of condolence was Geoff Dodd, 68, a retired primary school headmaster, and his wife, Carole. Dodd said their daughter and granddaughter had been at the concert but got to safety unharmed.
They wanted to sign the book in support of all the other families and to show they will not be cowed.
“My message to the terrorists is you picked on the wrong city,” he said.