As some of you may have noticed, I haven't posted since the beginning of this month. I had so many posts planned, which I have now rescheduled as it just doesn't seem right to post them at the moment.
I'm not sure if I wrote about it in any of my posts, but I went to see Ariana Grande for the second time, on the 22nd May at Manchester Arena. After being a fan for many years, I had seen her at the same venue 2 years ago and as soon as I found out she was coming here again, I just had to go.
It started off just like any concert and it was one of the best experiences of my life, until we were leaving. Ariana had just finished singing Dangerous Woman, the music finished, the lights came on and background music started playing. We stood for a while, getting our coats on and our bags, little did we know, this was likely to save our lives.
We had left the actually inside of the arena, and were walking along the 'corridor' to the foyer, so we could go for our train home. We were just in sight of the doors, but there were so many people, we were moving quite slowly. Next thing we know, there was a huge bang and smoke. We didn't know what it was at the time but everyone just screamed and started running. The fire doors were opened and we ran out onto the street.
Luckily, I was in close enough distance to my friends to be able to grab hold of them before people started getting pushed over. There were too many people in front of us to be able to see what had actually gone on, but security were just telling us to slow down and that it was only a speaker, but we just knew by the sound that it was more than that.
We rang home to explain what had happened, that there had been a bang, and we didn't want to go back into the train station, regardless of what had happened. We later found out that this wouldn't have been possible anyway. People who knew we were there started messaging to ask if we were alright and that they had heard on the news that there had been a bomb, this was the first we knew of it. As we travelled home, we found out more and more about what was going on.
Once we arrived home, it started to feel a little bit unreal. Thankfully, we left unharmed and I am forever grateful for that, but it is still an experience which I will never forget. Even though we were lucky enough to get home safe, it's affected our mental state in a huge way. Knowing that we were at an event where people sadly lost their lives, and it was such an act of hate, will stay with us forever.
My thoughts go out to all those affected, the 22 victims, their families, and Ariana herself who came to Manchester to share her talents. A night that should have been the best nights of so many peoples lives and sadly became the worst. May they Rest In Peace and never be forgotten. As sad as the events are, we will not let hate win.
Saffie Rose Roussos, 8
Martyn Hett, 29
Georgina Callander, 18
Olivia Campbell, 15
Elaine McIver, 43
John Atkinson, 26
Kelly Brewster, 32
Alison Lowe, 44
Lisa Lees, 43
Marcin Klis, 42
Angelika Klis, 39
Nell Jones, 14
Jane Tweedle-Taylor, 50
Michelle Kiss, 45
Sorrell Leczkowski, 14
Chloe Rutherford, 17
Liam Curry, 19
Eilidh MacLeod, 14
Wendy Fawell, 50
Courtney Boyle, 17
Philip Tron, 32
Megan Hurley, 15
<3
Beth x
I'm not sure if I wrote about it in any of my posts, but I went to see Ariana Grande for the second time, on the 22nd May at Manchester Arena. After being a fan for many years, I had seen her at the same venue 2 years ago and as soon as I found out she was coming here again, I just had to go.
It started off just like any concert and it was one of the best experiences of my life, until we were leaving. Ariana had just finished singing Dangerous Woman, the music finished, the lights came on and background music started playing. We stood for a while, getting our coats on and our bags, little did we know, this was likely to save our lives.We had left the actually inside of the arena, and were walking along the 'corridor' to the foyer, so we could go for our train home. We were just in sight of the doors, but there were so many people, we were moving quite slowly. Next thing we know, there was a huge bang and smoke. We didn't know what it was at the time but everyone just screamed and started running. The fire doors were opened and we ran out onto the street.
Luckily, I was in close enough distance to my friends to be able to grab hold of them before people started getting pushed over. There were too many people in front of us to be able to see what had actually gone on, but security were just telling us to slow down and that it was only a speaker, but we just knew by the sound that it was more than that.
We rang home to explain what had happened, that there had been a bang, and we didn't want to go back into the train station, regardless of what had happened. We later found out that this wouldn't have been possible anyway. People who knew we were there started messaging to ask if we were alright and that they had heard on the news that there had been a bomb, this was the first we knew of it. As we travelled home, we found out more and more about what was going on.
Once we arrived home, it started to feel a little bit unreal. Thankfully, we left unharmed and I am forever grateful for that, but it is still an experience which I will never forget. Even though we were lucky enough to get home safe, it's affected our mental state in a huge way. Knowing that we were at an event where people sadly lost their lives, and it was such an act of hate, will stay with us forever.
My thoughts go out to all those affected, the 22 victims, their families, and Ariana herself who came to Manchester to share her talents. A night that should have been the best nights of so many peoples lives and sadly became the worst. May they Rest In Peace and never be forgotten. As sad as the events are, we will not let hate win.
Saffie Rose Roussos, 8
Martyn Hett, 29
Georgina Callander, 18
Olivia Campbell, 15
Elaine McIver, 43
John Atkinson, 26
Kelly Brewster, 32
Alison Lowe, 44
Lisa Lees, 43
Marcin Klis, 42
Angelika Klis, 39
Nell Jones, 14
Jane Tweedle-Taylor, 50
Michelle Kiss, 45
Sorrell Leczkowski, 14
Chloe Rutherford, 17
Liam Curry, 19
Eilidh MacLeod, 14
Wendy Fawell, 50
Courtney Boyle, 17
Philip Tron, 32
Megan Hurley, 15
<3
Beth x
