One year ago, the quiet seaside town of Southport found itself in the national spotlight for the most tragic reason imaginable.
On Monday 29 July, what was meant to be a joy-filled Taylor Swift-themed dance class ended in devastation after Axel Rudakubana, then 17, launched a rampage at the summer holiday event.
The attack claimed the lives of Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and left eight more girls and two adults critically wounded.
In the hours and days that followed, the nation’s attention – and the world’s media – turned to the mourning Merseyside town.
But as the media and TV crews began to leave, the relatively small and tight-knit community in Southport remained. Working together, they began to pick up the pieces from the most awful event in the town’s recent history.
“We’re just a typical English seaside town – it’s quiet and not much happens here. Certainly not things like what happened last year,” Sheila Anderson, 62, who has lived in Southport for decades, tells The Independent.
“What happened has changed the town. We’re no longer an anonymous seaside town – it’s changed our identity a bit.”
Like many people in Southport, Sheila and her husband Brian Anderson, 68, heard the news of what had happened at the studio on Hart Street from neighbours and colleagues, as information filtered through on that Monday afternoon.
“Everyone was just in shock,” says Sheila. “A lot of it was asking, ‘Do you know anybody?’ rather than thinking about what the cause was. We didn’t know much, but there was a sinking feeling that the accusations were going to start.”
The loss of three young lives was not the only horrific event the town was forced to face that week. A calm vigil for the murdered girls later descended into chaos as violent riots broke out in the streets.
What ensued was a series of racist riots that went on for weeks across the country, sparked by misinformation spread online about the identity of the killer.
Despite the pain, the community of Southport gathered the morning after to clean up their town. Skips were hired, and walls were rebuilt brick by brick, as people displayed a community spirit that has come to be at the forefront of Southport’s identity in the year since.
“The way it was handled has given us a sense of pride,” says Sheila. “The riots were awful, but the general consensus was that it wasn’t us – it was people from other places.
“The town is definitely still grieving, and this week will be difficult. But we know we did what we could. We want to look after each other, and because of last year we feel we want to get involved more in the community.”
Speaking ahead of the first anniversary of the attack, Brian says: “People are still processing what happened, and it’s a difficult time. But we’re just hoping trouble stays away and we’ll get through it.”
Maz Langshaw, 52, heard the sirens pass her home on the day of the attack, and says she quickly became aware of what had happened through social media.
Her volunteer-run cafe, The Old Bakehouse Coffee Shop, is one of several “reflection hubs” that will open on Tuesday to allow the community a safe place to grieve, reflect, and participate in the planned three-minute silence in the afternoon.
The cafe, which opened in February, is also a community interest company (CIC), which runs community events throughout the week and is staffed by volunteers who receive training in the hospitality industry.
“I didn’t open this place directly because of what had happened. I had always been passionate about it, but it gave me the motivation to make it a volunteer-run CIC,” says Maz. “I wanted to reflect in my own way after the attack. But the people on Hart Street have not been left to process things.
“They still have people going and pointing, and saying ‘That’s where it happened.’ Processing and grief have been hindered a lot by the media, and social media.”
Describing how the town has handled its grief in the wake of the attack, she adds: “We were all led by the amazing families of the children. We are led by them, and they are passionate about making sure the girls have a legacy and are not defined by what happened to them.”
Each of the girls’ families has set up a charity or a CIC in the wake of the tragedy – Bebe’s Hive, Elsie’s Story, and Alice’s WonderDance Foundation.
Much of Southport has been involved in fundraising for the organisations, from running marathons to organising community days.
Southport Hesketh Round Table is continuing to raise funds for all 26 families directly affected by the tragedy. Its chair Jordan Shandley, 33, says: “We’re all about giving back to the local community, so when what happened last year happened, our first thought was about how to help.”
Donations for its fundraiser quickly topped £100,000, and the organisation still receives contributions to this day, which are split evenly between the families.
Jordan says: “Sadly the town will never not be affected by what happened. It’s a mark on the town’s history and it is very sad. But we want to show the real side of Southport – it is a lovely town with a strong community.”
Fellow member Marc Foreman, 47, says: “We don’t want Southport to be known for the riots. Of course, it will always be the town where this atrocity happened. But all of these charities and CICs that have been set up from it are what we are focusing on now, and for the future.”
Southport Trinity Cricket Club also raised over £34,000 for Bebe’s Hive and Alder Hey Children’s Charity, both of which it has partnered with.
Its chair, Steve Bennet, says the response to the club’s fundraising event was “overwhelming”, with local businesses literally “pulling things off the shelf” to donate when asked.
“The attack hit the club quite badly. One of our members was the grandparent of Bebe King, and others knew children who were at the event,” he says. “The impact of the event was something that hit everyone very hard. I couldn’t really talk about it out loud for six months. You know the saying, ‘You’re all six connections away from everyone else’? It’s very true in Southport, so everyone has been able to empathise with the position of the families.”
The club decided to organise a community day fundraiser, which saw more than 15,000 raffle tickets sold and auctions set up.
Steve adds: “One of our members knocked on every door and business in the area to ask for raffle donations or if they could help in anyway. It was quite overwhelming to have that kind of response.
“The generosity of the businesses, not just giving prizes but providing toilets, fences, tables, their time and everything else free of charge, was incredible.”
Although nothing formal will happen at the club to mark the anniversary of the attack on Tuesday, Steve says the bunting remains up as a “constant reminder”.
“It’s going to be low-key, but people are carrying it with them all the time,” he says. “From a club perspective, it’s brought us into a more tightly knit group through the shared experience of grief for our friend, and for those affected.”
