Manchester Arena bombing: Father of Sheffield victim Kelly Brewster thanks people for kindness on anniversary

Sunday, May 22, marked five years since the terror attack at an Ariana Grande concert claimed 22 lives, including that of 32-year-old Kelly, whose sister, Claire Booth, and niece, Hollie Booth, were injured too.

Kelly's family told a public inquiry last year how she had been the happiest she had been in her life and she and her fiance had just that day had an offer accepted on a house.

Yesterday, Kelly’s father posted a short message on social media thanking people for their ongoing support.

“Thank you everyone for your kind words on this b*****d of a day. Five years doesn’t make it any better, believe me.”

Sunday was the first time in three years that people in Manchester have been able to mark the anniversary free of coronavirus restrictions.

It was also their first opportunity to pay their respects at the riverside Glade of Light Memorial in the city, which which was opened by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge earlier this month.

Quiet crowds gathered on Sunday to lay flowers on the white marble ring in the centre, where the names of the victims are carved in bronze.

Manchester Cathedral’s bells tolled at 10.31pm, the time the bomb was detonated on May 22, 2017, and racers in Sunday’s Great Manchester Run gave applause for the victims ahead of the starting pistol.

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Ariana Grande shared a graphic of 22 bees, each with a victim’s name below, and the words ‘Manchester remembers’ on her Instagram story.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson paid tribute to the victims and said the courage shown by people in Manchester in the days following the attack had ‘touched the world’.

He said: “Like the country my thoughts are with the victims, families and friends of all those affected by the cowardly attack on Manchester Arena five years ago today.

“This was an act of terrorism against the freedoms we all hold dear, but as the people of Manchester demonstrated so courageously in the days that followed, hatred will never win.”