Hebden Bridge gallery shows it has a heart

Twenty-two people were killed on May 22 when terrorist Salman Abedi detonated a bomb during the Ariana Grande at the Manchester Arena.

Alison Bartram was on holiday in Croatia when the incident occurred, but was inspired by the responses of the public and the emergency services to do her bit to help.

She said: “I read about the taxi drivers ferrying stranded people home, the hotels and locals offering hot meals and warm beds, Sikh temples opening their doors to offer food and shelter to those stranded, our wonderful NHS and emergency services and all the long queues to donate blood.

“I also saw how important social media became keeping us all connected to these stories showing us the side to such an atrocity that the media does not report on.

“It showed us the best side; how a strong community comes together to help.

“This reminded me of how I felt with all the offers of help at Heart Gallery after Hebden Bridge was flooded on Boxing Day 2015 and how everyone gave me the strength to get through and stitch the gallery back together again.”

After coming up with the idea for the prints, she contacted colleague Pippa Dyrlaga, who created the design.

Alison said: “The original paper-cut is currently being framed free of charge by Abacus Framing at Mytholmroyd and will be raffled off at the Heart Gallery.

Tickets can be bought for £5 and proceeds will be going to our chosen charity Child Action North West.

“After much soul searching we chose to help this charity after hearing that after the bombing their counsellors had been overwhelmed by referrals from children and teenagers and no counselling service of this type has previously been available through them.

“They want to set up terrorist trauma counselling so with our help all those affected by this tragedy will receive beneficial counselling to avoid long term impact on their lives.

“We sold out of the prints within 24 hours, but more are now available direct from Heart Gallery at £20 each to raise funds for the charity.”

The Heart Gallery is based at The Arts Centre on Market Street.