TEENAGERS who were at the Manchester Arena during last year’s terror attack remembered those who died when an anniversary service was screened at York Minster.

About 250 people watched the BBC’s live broadcast of the National Service of Commemoration at Manchester Cathedral on a large screen in the Minster’s Nave on Tuesday.

Amongst them were teenagers Hannah Smith, from Malton, and Lola Vickers and Darcie Ingram, both 15, from York, who were all at the Ariana Grande concert last May when a bomb was detonated, killing 22 people.

Lola and Darcie were accompanied and comforted throughout the emotional service by their mothers, Kelliney Vickers and Vicky Stirk, while Hannah was with her mother Sarah, who said it had been a trying year. Mrs Stirk said they had felt they ought to come along to the service.

Lola and Darcie, both big Ariana Grande fans, said that when they heard the bang, they hadn’t initially known what had happened and thought at first it might have been a balloon popping or a gas canister exploding.

Lola’s mother Kelliney said she was waiting in the concourse for them when the bomb went off. “I saw the flash and heard the bang but was fortunately far enough away not to be injured,” she said.

“I rang them to tell them there had been a bomb and not to come out into the foyer area, and they came out a different way,” she said.

She said they were all still affected by what had happened that night. “There’s been a lot of media in the last few days as we were coming up to the date and it’s a reminder of what happened...the noises of the ambulances and the footage, it brings it all back.

“We are all a bit nervy now when we go anywhere. We have been to concerts recently and it’s quite scary.”

The Minster was one of three cathedrals to screen the Manchester service, in recognition that many of the 22 people killed came from across the North of England - including York couple Marcin and Angelika Klis, whose picture was displayed during the service. Their daughters Alex and Patrycia attended the service in Manchester.

Canon Michael Smith said beforehand that the Minster was providing whatever support it could to anyone who needed it. “We have a team of chaplains, and we have invited some younger members of the clergy in the locality to come, and there’s also people from Manchester, some healthcare professionals and experts in trauma care,” he said,

He said there were many people whose lives had been touched in some way by the attack, perhaps because a friend was there or they were present in a different part of the arena to where the bomb went off.

The Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, gave the final blessing at the end of the service in Manchester, during which Prince William gave a Bible reading and there were contributions from the Muslim, Hindu, Sikh and Jewish communities.