Whole families, hand in hand, clutching bunches of flowers and soft toys.
Grown men, some carrying teddies, had tears in their eyes.
Schoolboys in football shirts and shorts, little girls in pastel dresses, a mother and her son on their bikes, youngsters in pushchairs.
All gathered to pay their respects at the scene of the Southport stabbings yesterday.
One five-year-old, Bella, sits in pink-trimmed her wheelchair holding a bouquet of red roses and sunflowers.
She watched the TV news and wanted to spend her pocket money on a floral tribute.
It's just hours since Bella's shocked father Alex, 35, leapt into the back seat of a car that had pulled up outside their house - the driver, hysterical, screaming for help, crying that her daughter had been stabbed.
He drove with the mother back towards the scene of the attack, and into the arms of the paramedics, just a few hundreds yards down the street.
Bella's mother Sarah, also 35, was at work at a local nursery, which went into immediate lockdown, its doors barred for the rest of the day.
Yesterday, all three came to pay tribute to the little girls who died and to all those still fighting for their lives.
Sarah said: "Bella is very switched on, she wanted to know what had happened. I just told her there was a mean man, but the police had got him.
"The atmosphere today feels flat, eerie, horrible. We're here because we wanted to pay our respects.
"Being a parent and working in childcare, it brings everything home and hits that much more." Little Charlie, eight, has written a note to go with his flowers and carefully tucks them in with all the others.
He tells his mother Gabrielle he wants to be at the vigil, which took place at the Atkinson venue in Southport last night.
He also wants to be a police officer when he grows up.
この記事は Daily Express の July 31, 2024 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です ? サインイン
この記事は Daily Express の July 31, 2024 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です? サインイン
SAS COME TO RESCUE
TV experience boosts Jonathan
School shooting suspect's dad on murder charge
THE father of a teenager suspected of a school shooting in the US has been charged with murder after it emerged he allegedly bought his son a gun as a Christmas present.
'I did not kill my 'Diff'rent Strokes star husband'
A TV documentary alleges that Diff'rent Strokes child star Gary Coleman may have been killed, with his wife denying suggestions she was involved in his death.
Terry's widow was 'epitome of grace'
LADY Wogan, the wife of late TV veteran Sir Terry Wogan, has died at the age of 88 after what her son described as a \"fantastic life\".
Husband guilty of wife's unlawful killing blocked from her £4.4m fortune
A SERIAL fraudster cleared of murdering his wife has been blocked from inheriting her £4.4million estate after a second judge ruled he did actually drown her.
Protests over Green Party's expulsions for gender views
WOMEN expelled from the Greens after standing up for their rights have raised concerns about the party's treatment of females.
Top Gear star: I told BBC one of us could die
FORMER Top Gear star Chris Harris says he warned BBC bosses that someone could be killed before Freddie Flintoff's horrific test track crash.
Putin: China, India and Brazil could broker peace deal
VLADIMIR Putin yesterday claimed China, India and Brazil could jointly mediate RussiaUkraine peace talks in order to finally bring the war to an end.
Never-ending Storey
ANOTHER record extending win for Dame Sarah Storey helped take Great Britain's Paralympic medal haul to 100, while their 42 golds beats the 41 won in Tokyo in 2021.
Convicts may serve sentence in Estonia
INMATES could serve some of their jail time in Estonia to ease the overcrowding in British prisons.