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Just three weeks ago, in a town known for its flower shows, amusement arcades and funfair, what should have been a joyful start to the school holidays turned into unspeakable tragedy.
Rob and Julia Urwin were enjoying a day out with their three-year-old granddaughter, Elsie, in nearby Formby when they first heard about the attack.
“We got a message from our daughter about some stabbings,” Rob, a lifelong Southport FC fan and programme editor for the past 15 years, says.
“At the time, we didn’t think too much about it. It was only when we got home that we realised the seriousness of it all.”
Elsie’s best friend at nursery, Rosie, is sister of Elsie Dot Stancombe, who was “lovely, sweet and gentle”, her great-aunt said.
“The feeling in the town has been one of shock and despair,” adds Rob, whose wife Julia is a club photographer at Southport FC.
“We are in close proximity to where the events took place and it has shaken everyone to the core.”
Rob said that his granddaughter Elsie has been supporting Rosie by helping to make butterfly cakes.
Southport, a part-time club who play in the sixth tier National League North, had just returned from a weekend in Belfast, where they played a pre-season friendly against Cliftonville, when the attack happened.
News of the horror on that sunny Monday morning left a tight-knit community consumed by grief.
“The worst news coming out today, absolutely horrific, my thoughts and prayers are with the affected and their families,” wrote Southport midfielder Danny Lloyd,, external a veteran of more than 100 Football League appearances, on X.
Captain Jordan Keane added on X:, external “Devastating. My thoughts are with everyone involved.”
Three weeks on and many are still coming to terms with what happened, including Southport boss Bentley.
“There are no words that are enough to say to the families of those affected by the tragedy that has hit the town,” says the Liverpool-born father-of-two.
“I’m on a WhatsApp group with friends and the day it happened they were all saying how much more they were going to hug their kids that night.”
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