Saffie Roussos’ sister makes heartbreaking speech at her funeral in front of hundreds of mourners for the Manchester bombing victim
SAFFIE ROUSSOS’ sister paid a heartrending tribute to the eight-year-old Manchester bombing victim at her funeral today.
Hundreds of mourners arrived at Manchester Cathedral for the funeral of the youngest victim of the Manchester Arena attack, including mum Lisa who was discharged from hospital to bury her daughter.
In a letter she addressed to her tragic younger sister, Ashlee Bromwich promised: “Everything I do from this day forward will be all for you.”
The 23-year-old added: “Saffie Rose, I love you.”
Along with other mourners she wore one of Ariana Grande’s iconic cat ear headbands.
Her coffin was carried out as the Somewhere Over The Rainbow rang out in the church.
During the service hr dad, Andrew, bravely stood to say a few words about his daughter.
He began: “Everybody said, ‘Write some words down.’ And did I listen? No.
“Beautiful daughter Saffie. What can I say?”
Fighting back tears, he added: “I’m honoured to be her father. Honoured.
“Saffie is, was, a superstar in the making.
“To become something in life you have to have that something, that spark, that charisma.
“The ones that make it are born with it, they have got it from the very beginning, and Saffie had that. All she asked for was for us to love her.”
He thanked members of the public for attending and said the “overwhelming” support from Manchester and beyond was helping the family.
Saffie’s headteacher, Chris Upton, read a eulogy in which he described her as loving her family dearly and having another love in her life – Ariana Grande.
He said: “The irony of this tragedy is that the concert was a wonderful experience for her, the happiest Lisa and Ashlee had ever seen her.
“Lisa rarely watched the stage that evening, but, instead, her beautiful daughter who knew every song, sang every word and danced – I mean really danced – and didn’t have a care in the world.
He said eight-year-old Saffie had a “quiet confidence”, was a friend to everybody and was “clearly destined for great things”.
He said: “As you leave the cathedral today, try and be a little bit more like Saffie – ambitious, good-humoured, loving and passionate.
“The world will truly be a better place.”
Video messages from Saffie’s friends and teachers were played to the funeral in which they recalled their memories of her.
The Very Rev Rogers Govender said 22 bees were to be placed in the furniture of the cathedral as a memorial to the victims of the bombing.
He asked Mrs Roussos to hold one of the model bees as he dedicated it to Saffie.
He said the service was a “poignant moment” for Saffie’s family but also for the people of Manchester.
Her rose-covered wicker coffin was carried into the cathedral by friends and family as her mum Lisa – who was seriously injured in the attack – approached the service in a wheelchair before standing to walk alongside her daughter for the last time.
She emerged from the lead car, refusing the offer of a wheelchair, instead pausing, limping, but determined to walk into the cathedral for her daughter’s service, watched by dozens of well-wishers standing outside.
Her right arm in a sling and hand bandaged up, she carried a red rose in her other hand.
Saffie’s father, Andrew, 43, nodded to his son, Xander, 10, and his wife, who replied with a weak smile.
Her dad Andrew was comforted by Rev Rogers Govender, Dean of Manchester before the service.
Saffie, along with 21 others – seven of them children – died in the terror attack as fans streamed out of the venue following an Ariana Grande concert on May 22.
He than became a pall bearer and along with five others carried his daughter inside the cathedral.
Hundreds of mourners were already inside, with many clutching single roses in memory of Saffie.
The youngster was a huge fan of the US singer and had got tickets for the show as a Christmas present from her parents.
Her family say she was “happy and elated” as she left show with her sister and mother when suicide bomber Salman Abedi detonated his homemade bomb packed with nuts and bolts in the Arena foyer.
Saffie died of multiple injuries.
The family invited anyone touched by her death to attend the service to celebrate Saffie’s short life and to take a single rose in her memory should they wish to take flowers.
Her older sister Ashlee Bromwich, 26, was also injured and her mother, Lisa Roussos, 48, was left with extensive injuries and taken to hospital in a life-threatening condition.
After she regained consciousness her first words were “She’s gone, isn’t she?” her husband Andrew said.
Speaking publicly for the first time on July 4, on what would have been Saffie’s ninth birthday, Mr Roussos, 43, said: “We’ve lost everything. We have, we’ve lost everything, because life will just never be the same.”
Mr Roussos, who also has a son, Zander, 10, described his daughter as a girl who wanted to be famous, loved the limelight, and singing and dancing in excitement, counted the days down to seeing her pop idol performing in Manchester.
In Tarleton, the village where Saffie and her brother went to school, streets were festooned with pink ribbons tied to gate posts and lampposts as a mark of remembrance, and a short service will also be held in the local church on Wednesday.
Coaches have been laid on by a local firm to take people from the village and its surroundings, to pay their respects at the funeral in Manchester, but some traumatised schoolfriends of Saffie’s will attend the local service.
Chris Upton, headteacher of Tarleton Community Primary School, where Saffie was a pupil, described her as “simply a beautiful little girl”.
A police investigation into the terror attack on May 22 is still ongoing.