Northumbria Police officer to lead a memorial for the Manchester terror attack victims

A North East police officer is leading the national women's team in a memorial match to commemorate those who lost their lives in the Manchester Arena attack.

Detective Sergeant Michelle Gregory from the Force’s Safeguarding Department is the manager of UK Police's women's team and has arranged the special game to help remember the 22 people who lost their lives at the Manchester Arena on May 22, in 2017.

Hosted at Hyde United Football club in Manchester, the game will kick off at 2.30pm on June 17 and will see UK Police take on the UK Armed Forces women's team.

Paul Hett, the father of Martyn, who tragically lost his life in the attack has donated the trophy for the winners of the match.

Det Sgt Gregory said

"It's so good to have sport back following a difficult year as our team is like a family to us all.

“The devastating impact of the Manchester bombing affected us all so it felt right to organise this event and pay our respects not only to our police colleagues, but to those who tragically lost their lives.

"Sport is a really important part of policing. It promotes physical fitness, a sense of belonging, working together as a team, leadership, and a little bit of healthy competition - all traits we need as police officers.

"Like many sporting events, Covid has had a significant impact on our footballing schedule and our European Championships have now been postponed until 2022, but we are so grateful we that we can finally go ahead with the National Camp where we will play three competitive fixtures in three days against Huddersfield Town, Fylde and the memorial will take place before the final UK Armed forces fixture.”

Manager Michelle will also joined by defender Abbie Young, who is a Detective Constable at Northumbria’s Secondary Investigation Unit.

She said:

"This is an excellent opportunity for us to get back into sport and pay our respects to those who have lost their lives. We are very close as a team and know only too well how an incident like this can tragically affect so many people.

"So we look forward to being back with our football family and taking on our good friends in the Armed Forces.”

Sadly four people from the North East lost their lives in the tragic 2017 bombing - teenagers Chloe Rutherford and Liam Curry along with Philip Tron and his partner’s daughter Courtney Boyle - and their families were all supported by officers from Northumbria Police.

The game will be live streamed on Facebook here.