Parents pay respects to 18-year-old daughter they lost in attack TRUE BRIT GRIT
ISOBEL DICKINSON Chief Reporter THE parents of Manchester bombing victim Georgina Callander joined hundreds of supporters to release yellow balloons in her memory.
Dad Simon and mum Lesley paid their tearful tribute to the 18-year-old in the city’s St Ann’s Square.
Georgina, an Ariana Grande fan who had been pictured with the star, died in hospital on Monday night with her mother by her side.
Lesley told of her anguish at seeing Georgina’s life slip away. She said: “I was just screaming and shouting at her. I was rubbing her hands, I was rubbing her tummy, I was rubbing her face.”
She added: “It was just a flicker of hope that she’d move her hand or move her leg or try and open her eyes a little, just to acknowledge that I was there, just to let me know that she was very, very poorly but she knew that I was there.”
Dad Simon told a mum who was hugging her son at yesterday’s tribute: “Look after him, because you never know.”
The show of support in Manchester came as Brits refused to be cowed by the terror threat.
Dozens of events are taking place all weekend. Yesterday, football fans packed Wembley Stadium as Arsenal beat Chelsea in the FA Cup Final.
Arsenal fan Mike Purtill, 51, said: “I do feel safe. I don’t think you can allow something like that to stop you going on with your day-to-day life.”
The Aviva Premiership rugby union final between Wasps and Exeter Chiefs also went ahead at Twickenham.
Manchester is today hosting the Great Manchester Run and the Great City Games has been running all weekend.
And thousands flocked to the Chelsea Flower Show, Birmingham Pride and Radio 1’s Big Weekend in Hull.
After a minute’s silence to remember the victims who lost their lives, Radio 1 DJ Nick Grimshaw told the crowd: “After that we’re going to make as much noise as we can, to defiantly make a really loud noise as a community of music lovers, to show that we are here for everyone affected by that.”
Assistant Police Commissioner Mark Rowley said officers had reviewed security at more than 1,300 events around the country ahead of the bank holiday weekend.
Yesterday, PM Theresa May revealed the terror threat had been downgraded after a spate of arrests following the atrocity.
But hospitals have remained on high alert, while armed police have been seen patrolling trains and beaches.
Police urged people to go about their bank holiday break as usual.
Mr Rowley added: “Go out as you planned. Enjoy yourselves and be reassured by the greater policing presence you will see.
‘We can’t let the terrorists win by dissuading us from going about our normal business.”