balloons bore message ‘fly high Chloe and liam’

SOUTH Shields came together on Friday night to say goodbye to teenage sweethearts Liam Curry and Chloe Rutherford.

Liam, 19, and Chloe, 17, had planned to spend their lives together, but on Monday night they were among 22 people murdered by suicide bomber Salman Abedi at the Manchester Arena.

At Marsden Cricket Club, where Liam had played, the first game since the tragedy was an emotional one for many. After speaking with Liam’s family, the club decided to go ahead with the fixture, using it as an opportunity to pay tribute to both of them.

The smitten couple met through the cricket club, and their families said they had been “inseparable” ever since.

Speaking before an audience of family, friends and team mates, Ryan Little, from the club, said: “There’s not many words that can be said to describe what’s gone on, or what will happen in the next weeks to come.

“The main point of tonight is to celebrate two beautiful people who are unfortunately no longer with us.

“Let’s just make the night the best night possible, the kind of night Chloe and Liam had every single time they went out.”

As the match began, balloons were released into the sky, while the ground echoed with a minute of applause. Beneath the club’s flag, which flew at half mast, an area set aside for tributes overflowed with flowers and cards bearing messages celebrating Chloe and Liam’s lives. Many had written “fly high, Chloe and Liam” on their balloons.

A tribute posted online by Liam and Chloe’s families read: “On the night our daughter Chloe died and our son Liam died, their wings were ready but our hearts were not.

“They were perfect in every way for each other and were meant to be. They were beautiful inside and out to ourselves and our families, and they were inseparable.”

Chloe had been a student at Harton Technology College in South Shields before studying music at Newcastle College and working as an apprentice at Westoe Travel agency. Cricket player Liam was studying Applied Sports and Exercise Science at Northumbria University.

While close friends and family mourned, the rest of the town also took the time to share their grief and pay their respects to Chloe and Liam’s family.

At the New Mill pub, in South Shields, hundreds of people gathered to fill the sky with pink and blue balloons in memory of the pair.

Organiser Shanice Martin said she had not expected the scale of the event. “It was just a small event to give some respect to the family – I didn’t know so many people would come,” she said. “It’s just affected everybody here.” Floral tributes to the couple have also been laid at South Shields Town Hall, where a book of condolences was also opened.