Teenager ‘knew in her heart’ that bomb went off
A TEENAGE student has told how she knew instantly that the Arena incident was a terror attack.
Bridie O’Hare, who has just finished her first year studying history at Leeds Beckett University, said she knew ‘in her heart’ that it was a bomb even though there was a lot of speculation at the time.
She said: “There was kind of a pause, which if you think back now it feels like it was forever. Everyone looked at each other in disbelief at what they had just heard was a bomb.
“There were a lot of people picking up their children and just running.”
Bridie, a fan of Ariana Grande since the age of 11, had attended the concert on her own, and cannot remember leaving the venue to meet her mother who had been waiting to pick her up.
“I couldn’t find her so I rang my dad,” she said. “That was obviously the first he had heard about it.
“Eventually I found my mum, I was hysterical really. She asked if I had had a good time. I said ‘You don’t understand what has just happened’. I just told her to drive.”
In the time after, Bridie, now 19, tried to keep away from media reports about the bombing.
“I knew the best thing to do was to not seclude myself. I just made sure I was busy and with my friends. I tried to stay away from social media. It was just everywhere, in this day and age and especially people of my age.”
As the months went by, Bridie became more withdrawn.
In autumn last year, Bridie began counselling through the Manchester Resistance Hub, which allowed her to speak with others who were there on the night.
On Sunday April 8, Bridie and her mother Suzanne ran the Sheffield Half Marathon in two hours, 40 minutes, raising more than £800 for the We Love Manchester Emergency Fund.
“It was really tough. It was hard. It was emotional.
“It takes that sense of guilt away because you know you’ve done your bit.”