Manchester

[longbridge]

Heres hoping that after this terrible tragedy that this weekends Manchester concert will be peaceful, loving and most of all safe, Bless everyone involved.

[Lankyman]

My wife and I were enjoying a River Cruise betyween Budapest and Amsterdam when we saw the shocking news one morning on Sky News. As the ship is Auistralian owned there were a lot of Aussies and Kiwis on board as well as a number of Brits, some from around Lancashire. We went down for breakfast and it was the ony topic of conversation with our Aussie and Kiwi friends keen to ensure that we Brits were OK. After we came home on Monday we drove into Leyland to see all the tributes laid in front of the Chippy that the little girl's parents run in the town. What a marvellous gesture of support from the whole town to the family.

My wife and I were both born and brought up in Oldham just six miles NE of Manchester and we met in the Hunt's Bank offices of British Railways and the former HQ of the L&Y Railway (which is one of the reasons why I use use the name Lankyman. It was was my first proper job and the start of a long career inthe Railway Industry. I was part of the Project Team that dealt with the rebuilding of Manchester Victoria station in order to reduce its size so that the land could be used for the Arena. 21 years ago two of my staff were working unauthorised overtime in Rail House, next to Piccadilly station, when the IRA bomb went off and blew the roof off Victoria station (It only got rebuilt last year.) When I got to work on the Monday I had two very shocked ladies to deal with. Of course I should have disciplined them but instead ended up counselling them. We all think that these things can never happen to us, only to other people, but these incidents are just a little bit too close for comfort and very sobering.

My thoughts and prayers go out to all those who have been affected.

Ron