We were having best night of our lives then killer struck...
TRAGIC Olivia Campbell-Hardy’s best friend has told how they were having the ‘best night’ of their lives – until the bomb ripped through the Arena.
Speaking at a service celebrating Olivia’s life held after her funeral, Adam Lawler describes the pair’s thrill at seeing Ariana live.
But just moments after ‘singing and cheering,’ that thrill turned to torment as Salman Abedi detonated his bomb, killing 22 people and injuring dozens more.
Adam, who was also seriously injured in the blast, had asked 15-yearold Olivia to go to the Ariana Grande concert after another pal couldn’t make it. Addressing the crowd of mourners at Bury Football Club after her funeral at St Anne’s Church in Tottington, he explained how they had enjoyed their visit to McDonald’s in St Ann’s Square beforehand – with the square later becoming home to a sea of floral tributes to those killed and injured in the blast. Adam, 15, said: “Ariana came on and we were up and cheering and singing our hearts out and in all honesty that’s one of the best nights of my life, bar what happened after, because I got to see one of my best friends, a person that I love very much, one of the greatest people that I’ll ever have the honour of knowing, have the greatest night of her life.” He added: “We have lost Liv physically, but her spirit will live on in all of us. We’ll never lose the great memories.”
Apologising for the sound through the microphone because of the tracheotomy he had in hospital, Adam told the crowd: “This attack has shaped our lives, all of us, in a way we never wanted and we never thought would happen, but it has and that night was awful.”
And after his moving speech, Olivia’s family and friends joined her injured friend in an emotional singing tribute to the teenager – belting out Don’t Look Back In Anger by Oasis, the song that has become a symbol of Manchester’s spirit in the wake of the attack.
Friends and family of the brave teenager can be seen singing along with Adam, who had to have an operation on his right eye and suffered injuries to his right leg and arm after the attack, before he is joined by Olivia’s mum Charlotte and stepdad Paul Hodgson.
Paul told the M.E.N.: “It was fantastic. Adam did everyone proud, we are so proud of him.
“The day went so smooth and we would like to say thank you to every scooterist, biker, everyone who came to support us on Olivia’s day of rest.”