Council holds minute's silence for Southport victims

Floral tributes to Alice da Silva Aguiar, Elsie Dot Stancombe and Bebe King, who died in a knife attack in Southport on 29 July

The headteachers of the three girls killed in the Southport stabbings have attended a full council meeting where a one-minute silence was held.

Councillors came together to reflect on the tragic events on 29 July, when Alice da Silva Aguiar, Elsie Dot Stancombe and Bebe King died in a knife attack during a Taylor Swift-themed dance class.

The extraordinary meeting heard how the town had struggled to come to terms with the tragic events of 29 July.

Councillors formally thanked the emergency services and those who rushed to help in the aftermath of the attack, in which eight children and two adults were also injured.

Elsie Dot Stancombe, Alice da Silva Aguiar and Bebe King died after the attack on 29 July

Council leader Marion Atkinson said it was essential that any lasting memorial should not happen without the express support of the girls' families.

She said: “We must agree that this is about them - their loss and their needs - and, in doing so, allow the professionals within the organisations dedicated to them to give support to them in whatever way we can.”

All councillors who spoke at the meeting agreed the local authority would put the wishes of the victims' families first in all decisions related to the tragedy.

A one-minute silence for the victims of the Southport stabbings was held at the Sefton Council meeting

Merseyside’s Chief Constable Serena Kennedy addressed the meeting, which was the first time all of Sefton’s elected members had gathered together since the attack.

The Lord Mayor of Sefton led the minute's silence as a mark of respect to the victims of the knife attack and all those impacted by the tragedy.

The area outside Southport’s Town Hall became a focal point for tributes to the three girls, with large numbers of flowers, plants, teddies and toys laid in the area over the past six weeks.

Lord Street in Bloom volunteers maintained the commemorative tributes in town over the summer

Volunteers from Lord Street in Bloom have been tending to the tributes over the summer, with some spending hours rearranging them - and staff from a local pizza restaurant keeping them watered.

However, the area was cleared of flowers ahead of the council meeting. Volunteers said they had instead added mementos such as painted pebbles in place of the floral tributes.

Friendship bracelets have been hung on trees in the town

Garlands made from friendship bracelets, created by local children, have been hung across the trees outside the town hall.

Volunteer James Clegg said being part of the team looking after the tributes had been motivated by “a sense of duty”.

“I needed to preserve this thing of beauty for as long as possible,” he said.

The father-of-six added he could not comprehend what the girls' families had been through.

'Hardest blow'

“One of the reasons I came here is that I can go home at night and hug my daughters. They can’t," he said.

"And if me sacrificing a bit of time with my children has made things even slightly easier, then it’s worth it."

The volunteers said they would like to see a permanent memorial in the town, but Pauline Morris, who runs the group, said it was "for the families and the council to decide when the time is right”.

Leader of Sefton’s Liberal Democrats and Southport’s former MP John Pugh told the council meeting the impact of the events of 29 July would have a lasting impact on the town.

“Southport, for some time to come, will be associated with these events – like Dunblane," he said.

He said losing children was “the hardest blow, because of what they bring to the world: hope, energy, imagination and a capacity for joy”.