07-07-2025
Celebrant who worked near terrorist attack pays tribute to victims
A celebrant has paid tribute to victims of the London 7/7 bombings as she recalled the terrorist attack 20 years on.
On July 7, 2005, four suicide bombers struck the capital's transport network, killing 52 people and injuring more than 770 on three London Underground trains and a bus.
The Prime Minister and London mayor Sir Sadiq Khan laid wreaths at the July 7 memorial in Hyde Park at 8.50am to coincide with the moment that the first bomb went off.
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The King asked for the country to reaffirm its commitment to building a society of all faiths and backgrounds, standing against those who seek to divide us.
The Mayor of London and the Prime Minister laying wreathsSinead Comerford, who lives in West Oxfordshire, was in the capital on the day of the attacks.
At the time, she worked for an Australian hotel accommodation website, as a product development manager for Germany and Austrian hotels. The office was on Elder Street, not far from Liverpool Street station and Edgware Road.
Now she works as a celebrant, conducting ceremonies for families, and lives in Shipton-under-Wychwood with her husband Nick Beaney.
Ms Comerford said: "I will remember the day forever. I was living and working in London at that time. On July 7, 2005, I had taken the 344 bus at 8am from Stockwell to Liverpool Street and walked to the office I was working in, not far from Edgware Road.
"Shortly before 9am, one of our colleagues alerted us that his train could not stop at Liverpool Street station and he rang asking for directions back to our office.
"Our other colleague had not arrived yet. We were beginning to worry."
She added: "The first reports on the radio were of a power surge. I remember saying immediately that this must be a premeditated terrorist attack. We were very relieved when both remaining beloved colleagues arrived into the office.
"Soon we could hear helicopters circling the skies. Phone lines were quickly down, so it was getting harder and harder to reach other friends and colleagues working in the city.
"Fortunately I managed to contact family in Dublin to say I was safe.
"We were all advised to stay in our offices and not to leave and go out into the streets. I remember seeing buses below, carrying people wrapped in foil blankets. The day was long and harrowing. I remember feeling very frightened."
Sinead Comerford (Image: Sinead Comerford) Ms Comerford said she recently watched A song for Jenny, a drama on the BBC, about "the beautiful young woman, Jenny Nicholson, who was a victim of the attack at Edgware Road", and her mother Julie's response to the attack.
She urged people to think of Jenny, her family and the other victims.
Ms Comerford added "I hope Londoners today can reflect as they travel around the city and smile at someone near them on the train, bus and Tube today, strike up a conversation and help someone carry their heavy luggage up the Tube stairs."
Three of the blasts happened on London Underground, on or about 8.50am, in the vicinity of Aldgate, Edgware Road and Russell Square stations.
The fourth device exploded at 9.47am on a bus that had been diverted via Tavistock Square.
Last week, the husband of a doctor caught up in the 2005 attacks paid tribute to his 'wonderful' wife.
Gerardine Quaghebeur, from Wootton near Abingdon, was sitting on an underground carriage near Aldgate station when a terrorist detonated a bomb.
She helped fellow victims, and her husband Peter Richards said 'the shock and trauma of it never left her'.
His wife of 30 years passed away on June 19.
