OVER 50 pugs dressed as bees will walk near the Etihad Campus to pay tribute to those killed in the Manchester Arena attack last year.
The pugs will walk through Clayton Vale Country Park in South Manchester as part of community efforts to raise money for a permanent memorial to be built, honouring the 22 killed in the attack.
The memorial walk will by held by pug appreciation group, Manchester Pug Thing on Sunday 13th May, nine days before the anniversary of the Arena bombing on May 22nd last year.
Pug group member Jakkie Rose, 45 of Newton Heath said: “We’re raising money to get a memorial stone put up in Clayton Vale in honour of the victims of the arena bombing and we’re dressing all these pugs as bumble-bees.”
“The Arena bombing is close to our hearts and my idea was to get all the pugs dressed as bumblebees – and so we wanted to get a memorial stone made,” she added.
Over the last three weeks, the pug group has raised over £500 in donations which will go towards the Clayton Vale memorial stone.
Natasha Peters, who is also helping to organise the event said: “We’re raising money to have a mural put in Clayton Vale to remember the 22 – It’s one of the only places near Manchester we haven’t seen one.”
The Manchester bee has been a symbol of solidarity in the months after the bomb attack, but the pug walk will pay tribute in a different way.
Charlotte Hodgson, mother of 15-year-old Olivia Campbell who died in the attack said: “The walk is a fabulous idea, completely different.
“Olivia would of loved it as she adored pugs and always said she would have loads when she had her own house.”
The group will meet at 12pm (Sunday 13th May) in The Arches, Clayton Vale where they will begin the walk before stopping at a local cafe, where members of the community will be able to take part in raffles.
The event comes as dozens of bee-painted rocks will be spread around the city in memorial to the Manchester Arena terror attack.
Next month, the 22nd May marks exactly one year since Salman Abedi detonated a nail bomb in the foyer of the Manchester Arena during the Ariana Grande ‘Dangerous Woman’ tour.
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