9/11 anniversary: Families remember those they lost

Britain suffered more losses in the atrocities than any other country apart from the US itself.

In London, about 30 of the bereaved families are expected to attend a remembrance ceremony at the September 11 memorial garden next to the American Embassy in Grosvenor Square.

Another 10 will be in New York for the events organised by the US authorities at Ground Zero, the former site of the World Trade Centre.

The British victims of the suicide attacks included bankers, brokers, journalists and computer experts.

The garden in London, which was opened by the Princess Royal in 2003, will see a poignant commemoration, in which relatives read out the names of the victims, and lay a white rose for each one on a memorial stone beneath bronze plaques listing them all.

Memorial services will also be held at St Paul’s Cathedral in the morning and at Westminster Abbey in the evening.

In New York there will be a concert at the British Memorial Garden site in Hanover Square, which is just half a mile from Ground Zero and also commemorates the UK victims.

Music will come from former Spandau Ballet singer Tony Hadley, the Lothian and Borders and Tayside police choirs, the West Yorkshire Police brass band, and the Allied Forces Foundation Pipes and Drums.

Meanwhile, London Mayor Boris Johnson will also mark the anniversary by unveiling a new sculpture, entitled After 9/11, in Battersea Park.

The work, by New York artist Miya Ando from steel recovered from the World Trade Center, was commissioned by the 9/11 London Project to mark the launch of a new programme to educate schoolchildren about the attacks.

For the bereaved families and survivors, the 10th anniversary brings back painful memories of their loved ones and the horrors they encountered that day.

One of the survivors was Vanessa Lawrence, 36, who was working as an artist in the north tower on the 91st floor when the first plane hit, two floors above her.

She said her son, born 15 weeks ago, has given her new impetus to move on from the trauma she suffered.

Miss Lawrence, of Glasgow, still struggles with memories of that day. “Ten years is a long time, but I can be right back in it as if it was yesterday,” she said.

“A lot of it is very fresh in my head. There’s still things that affect me, like I smell something that takes me right back.

“It never leaves you. You move on, of course, but there’s still things I’m affected by which make me angry. But I have to deal with it, otherwise it will control me.

“Now, having my boy, it’s another focus - children pick up on emotions so it’s good for me, I’ve got to be able to control them.”

Miss Lawrence arrived at the studio at 6am on 9/11 and spent several hours painting, before going to the lobby to call a friend - she had no mobile phone.

As she stepped out of the lift back on the 91st floor she was thrown to one side by the blast of the plane hitting.

After retreating into an office, she and others from that floor made their way down the stairwells, climbing over debris in the dark.

Patricia Bingley’s son Kevin Dennis, 43, died after going to work on the 101st floor of the north tower.

“This one most probably will be the worst one because I’m older and I know I’m coming to the end. I just wish he was here so I could say goodbye to him,” the 77-year-old from Clacton-on-Sea, Essex, said.

“I don’t know how he died. We have no body. I can’t go to the graveyard.

“I find myself saying, ‘please bring him back’ but I know he won’t come back.”