Teenage sweethearts are together forever
Joint funeral for couple murdered in Manchester blast
TWO teenage sweethearts murdered at Manchester Arena were together again at their funeral yesterday.
More than 500 mourners packed the church to honour Liam Curry, 19, and Chloe Rutherford, 17, with hundreds more listening from outside.
Liam’s mum lost her husband to cancer two months before her son was killed.
The Reverend Christopher Fuller told the congregation he understood their anger at suicide bomber Salman Abedi, who murdered 22 people after an Ariana Grande concert on May 22. But he said: “It is love that will win. “Chloe and Liam are still an image of love. They were inseparable in life and they are inseparable as angels in heaven.”
Liam and Chloe’s families held a joint funeral because the young couple were so deeply in love. Mourners at St Hilda’s in South Shields near Newcastle wore pink and blue to celebrate their lives.
Liam’s brother Zac, 15, bravely spoke, and told how Chloe tried to make Liam jealous by calling him her “best friend”.
He said Liam comforted him when their dad Andrew died aged 49 in March, and added: “I always loved my big brother – and I will always miss my best friend.”
Liam’s mum Caroline wrote in the order of service about her “beautiful boy”.
She said: “Help us celebrate his love of music and his love for Chloe, the beautiful young lady who captured his heart.”
Chloe’s family remembered their “beautiful, lovely, caring, dancing, singing amazing daughter who enjoyed life and shared many happy times with so many people”.
They added: “We’ll miss our cuddles and chats on the sofa.”
Chloe had a job at a travel agent and Liam wanted to join the police. He went to the concert to look after his girlfriend.
He loved cricket, and his mates from the Marsden club carried his coffin.
Another huge congregation, 150 miles away in Tarleton, Lancashire, said goodbye yesterday to murdered Ariana fan Georgina Callander, 18. Her favourite colour was yellow, and mum Lesley wore a bright yellow dress with a bow in her hair as she walked into Holy Trinity Church with Georgina’s dad Simon and brothers Daniel and Harry. Daniel told the congregation he missed his “annoying, geeky little sister”. He added: “Georgina was the kindest person you’ll have ever met.” Georgina was about to start a nursing course at college when Abedi took her life. Her teacher Alison Mesghali said: “The thing I remember most about Georgina is her smile. She was always smiling.” Fellow victim John Atkinson, 28, was laid to rest in his home town of Bury, Lancashire. John made his living helping stroke victims and people with autism. He was described at St Thomas and St John Church in the town as “a true gentleman” who was “one in a million”. A crowdfunding appeal to pay for his funeral raised more than £7000.