UK Memorial Events on the 10th Anniversary of September 11th 2001

Sep 7, 2011
Jo Harrington

Photo: World Trade Center, September 11th, 2001 - Bill Biggart

The British victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the USA are being remembered ten years on. In London, a memorial concert and art mark the anniversary.

Every anniversary is a time for reflection, but a 10th anniversary concentrates the mind just that little bit more. This week marks a decade since terrorist attacks in the USA shocked the world. Nearly 3000 people died, on September 11, 2001, when aeroplanes were flown into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. A fourth target, likely to have been in Washington DC, was thwarted when passengers overpowered their hijackers on United Airlines Flight 93.

Amongst the dead were 67 British citizens; more casualties than any other nationality, excepting Americans. They are being remembered in a series of events and other memorials.

After 9/11 Sculpture Unveiled in Battersea Park, London.

This began on Sept 6, 2011, with the unveiling of an art installation in Battersea Park, London. The sculpture is called After 9/11 and it has taken the artist, Miya Ando, two years to complete. It is made from a portion of twisted metal salvaged from the ruins of the World Trade Center, in New York City. The metal was originally part of three separate girders, but have now been welded together in a striking, 28ft memorial.

The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, officially opened the sculpture, with a speech calling upon 'conspiracy theorists' to stop devising alternate accounts of the events of September 11, 2001. Britain is the only country to have been provided with materials from Ground Zero by the USA. The artist is from New York City.

After 9/11 will remain in Battersea Park until October, 2011, when it will be taken to Manchester's Imperial War Museum North. In the meantime, that institution is displaying a Union Flag, which was also discovered in the debris of Ground Zero.

Memorial Service and the September Concert for Families of British 9/11 Victims.

On the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks, the families of the British victims will be remembering their loved ones together. A commemoration church service will be held in London. It is invitation only, envisaged as a private time for the families to band together. This will be followed by an open air concert, which organisers hope will bring in members of the general public to stand beside them.

The September Concert will be held in Grosvenor Square, London, on September 11th, 2011, from 6-8pm. The headliner is Rob Halligan, a singer-songwriter, whose father was on the 92nd Floor of the North Tower, ten years ago. Rob watched the World Trade Center collapse, from a television displayed in an electrical shop window, knowing that his father was still in it. Streets of This Town, a song written in memory of his father and that day, is available as a free download from his website. Other music and entertainment will be provided by the Welsh Guards Band, the Harrow School Boys' Choir and the Fulham Camerata.

Camilla Hellma, from the British Memorial Garden Trust UK, explained that the September Concerts are an annual event. She added, "They are designed to be an uplifting moment for the families."

Simultaneously, there will be a concert in the British Garden, in Hanover Square, New York City. The Memorial Concert will began at 1.30pm. Tony Hadley, the lead singer with 1980s British group Spandau Ballet, will sing the English National Anthem. He will be followed by choirs and bands from the police forces of West Yorkshire, Tayside and West Lothian, plus the Allied Forces. While no live link-up is currently planned, organisers are trying to implement a feed or livestream between the two events.