North plays its part in fellowship of remembrance

From families to firefighters, Christian and Muslim, they gathered for moving commemorative services held at 1.46pm - the exact moment American Airlines Flight 11 swooped out of the crystal blue sky and crashed into the World Trade Centre.

In New York, North-East couple Terry and Linda McMahon saw for themselves the site where their son, Gavin, died.

Mr and Mrs McMahon made the heartbreaking pilgrimage to America to take part in the official remembrance ceremony at Ground Zero.

Back home on Tyneside, Christ Church with St Ann's, in the city's Shieldfield, was the scene of the region's biggest tribute and was full to overflowing, with seating added for an extra 100 to hear the Bishop of Newcastle, the Right Reverend Martin Wharton, give the blessing.

Several people couldn't contain their emotion during the one-minute candlelit silence, which brought the service to a close. Many left in tears.

Yesterday's service was jointly organised by Canon Chris Savage and the Reverend Stephen Hazlett. Mr Hazlett said: "I've been taking services for more than 20 years and this was unchartered territory for us all. We hope we never have to do this again, but we felt we had to, in some way, recognise this day because it means such a lot to a lot of people."

Among those other communities represented was the Muslim faith on Tyneside.

Safraq Khan, of Newcastle Mosque and Islamic Centre, said: "What happened in 2001 was very bad, not only for America but for the whole world."

Firefighters in Darlington, Middlesbrough, Stockton and Northallerton also paused to remember the dead yesterday.

Outside Eston Town Hall, firefighters stood alongside council workers to pay their respects, some with heads bowed, others staring straight ahead, their minds turned to the tragic events of a year ago.

Through the silence, a flag could be heard fluttering at half-mast in the late summer breeze, and the sun cast its glow over Eston, just as it had done on Manhattan a year ago.

The close links forged with America at Washington Old Hall, the ancestral home of the family of the first US president, led to a remembrance service being staged at the National Trust property.

Staff, students and members of the orchestra of nearby Washington School and its adjoining primary school, took part in a half-hour open air ceremony.

Clergy from local Anglican, Roman Catholic and Methodist churches, and English-based American pastor Rodney Thomas led the congregation in prayer.

The service culminated in Washington School head boy Daniel Marsden laying a wreath of remembrance at the foot of the Stars and Stripes, following the playing of the US national anthem by the school orchestra.

Hundreds gathered at York Minster for a service at the Minster's Lady Chapel conducted by Canon Jonathan Draper, the Canon Theologian at the Minster.

He said: "Many things have changed, but the horrors brought by those events remain."

The Lord Mayor of York, David Horton, placed ten white roses under a plaque at the Guildhall.

The plaque was donated by the City of New York in 1924 and bears the American flag.

Artist Paul Calvert depicted his own sentiment of the September 11 events with his stained-glass panel, which will be on display in the North Transept of the Minster until September 24.

The artist said: "I was inspired by the extraordinary resilience of ordinary people in the face of devastation."

It was business as usual at the region's airports.

The departure lounge at Teesside was virtually deserted and already hushed at 1.46pm when officials asked passengers to observe a minute's silence.

It was the same story at Newcastle, where families waiting to fly abroad paused to consider the victims of the world's worst terrorist outrage.

In Darlington, the flag flew at half mast as firefighters remembered the victims of September 11. The day's watch bowed their heads in reflection at 1.46pm for a minute's silence, recalling the US fire personnel who lost their lives a year ago.