Southport Heroes to be honored with awards

An annual event honoring the community’s heroes will recognize everyone who helped in the wake of this summer’s stabbing attacks in Southport.

Those who came to the aid of the injured, as well as those who helped bring the community together in the coming days, will be the focus of next year’s Pride of Sefton Awards.

Organizer Andrew Brown said all money raised from the Sefton-wide event will go to a charity supporting the bereaved.

Six-year-old Bebe King, seven-year-old Elsie Dot Stancombe and nine-year-old Olivia da Silva Aguira died of stab wounds after being attacked at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class on July 29.

Following the attack on the Hart Space studio on Hart Street, police, fire crews, paramedics and the public rushed to help.

In the days following the attack, volunteers came out to repair damage caused by rioters and tend to thousands of bunches of flowers left at makeshift memorials around the town.

Mr Brown said the awards covered the whole of Sefton but Southport’s heroes deserved special praise.

He said: “There needs to be recognition of how the community has come together, the kindness that people have shown and this is an opportunity to thank those unsung heroes, the people who cleaned up or looked after the flowers, the people who helped them. They were the first on the scene.”

Andrew Mikhail, owner of Mikhail Hotel and Leisure, which organizes the awards in conjunction with Stand Up For Southport, said he had “mixed emotions” ahead of next year’s event.

“We were all heartbroken to see those three young girls killed and so many children and adults seriously injured, including some who rushed to help.

“It has been amazing how the community has responded since then to this tragedy and the riot that followed.”

The Pride of Sefton Awards will take place at the Grand Hotel in Lord Street, Sefton, on 25 April.