In a quiet corner of Hyde Park, at an open-air service in front of the 52 steel pillars and memorial plaque that bears their names, the victims of the 7/7 London bombings were remembered on the 11th anniversary of the atrocity.
The bereaved, the survivors, the physically and mentally scarred, those who had witnessed the horror, those who had helped in the carnage and its aftermath, and those who simply wanted to pay their respects, gathered in the sunshine to lay bright orange gerbera daisies in memory.
A roll call of those who died on the three tube trains – between King’s Cross and Russell Square, at Edgware Road, at Aldgate – and on the No 30 bus at Tavistock Square was read aloud, and memories of that terrible day were shared.
In an emotional address to the service on Thursday, Jo McVey, 46, a lecturer at the University of the Arts, London, described how walking along the crowded platform at King’s Cross “instead of getting in the first carriage” probably saved her life. “My story is not one of a victim. I will not accept that,” she said. Those who died were “innocents”, she said, “like innocents all around the world” who were caught up in the “wars, conflicts and the political power beyond our control”.
For others, the publication of the Chilcot report on the Iraq war cast a shadow. The parents of Ciaran Cassidy, 22, a printing shop assistant, could not disguise their anger. “I don’t think we would be here if it wasn’t for Tony Blair. I said that at the time. And I’ve said that to him directly,” said Sean Cassidy, 68. “And for him [Blair] to say he would do it all over again …” he shook his head, sitting in his seat in front of the memorial. “And he’s still marauding the world as a peace merchant. It’s clouded the day, yes,” he said. His wife, Veronica, 64, said the annual service was very important. “It gives you time to reflect. And to meet the parents who also lost their children,” she said.
Of those gathered, some were there because they could not forget the horror they had witnessed. Alex Marshall, 46, was working as a chef manager and found himself in his whites administering first aid as one of the first on the scene at Tavistock Square. “I brought out tables, I brought out tea towels, I brought out surgical gloves, anything I could find to help the injured,” he said. “I come to this service every year. I find it difficult to be away. It’s an odd feeling.”
Hundreds were injured in the explosions detonated during rush hour by the suicide bombers Mohammad Sidique Khan, 30, Shehzad Tanweer, 22, Hasib Hussain, 18, and Jermaine Lindsay, 19.
Jane Briggs, 55, a lecturer at the University of Brighton who was on her way to a conference when she was caught up in the Edgware blast, attends each year to support the bereaved and to thank the emergency services and other workers who helped on the day. “I have a very, very vivid memory of a young woman with her hair in a ponytail, shining a torch,” she said describing being led out of the train by a rescue worker. “And her voice, her very reassuring voice, saying: ‘You’re OK now. You are safe now’,” she said.
Others, though not directly affected, came to show their empathy with those who were. Doris Cragg, who was working as a PA in the City, remembers worried phone calls from friends because her husband, Tony, was a bus driver, though he was not working that day. Both came to lay flowers. “I just think of those just going to work like I did that day. It just has an impact. And being here today is a small gesture,” she said. Paul Bradbury, from Wallington, near Croydon, also came “to show a bit of respect, just to remember them”.
The service, organised by the Tim Parry Johnathan Ball Foundation for Peace, and its Survivors Assistance Network, was preceded by a private wreath-laying by the London mayor, Sadiq Khan, whose handwritten message read: “11 years on we must never forget those who lost their lives on 7/7 or the unity Londoners showed in the face of the attack.”
The Metropolitan police commissioner, Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, and senior officials from the emergency services also laid wreaths. A bouquet of cream and red roses from the prime minister, David Cameron, read: “In memory of the victims of terrorism in London on 7th July 2005. They will never be forgotten.”
At the end of the service, those gathered were each offered a single yellow or white rose gifted by members of the Muslim community, each with a handwritten peace message, as part of a “heart-to-heart” initiative, a gesture replicated across London. “We chose today because it is the anniversary of 7/7. It is also Eid,” said Dr Zaza Elsheikh, from the religious faith mediation service Bima– Belief in Mediation and Arbitration. “We came here hoping to meet with people who may, or may not, have resentment towards Muslims, either because of 7/7 or the current situation, and rather than hiding away we wanted to make this gesture.”
