UK joins US in remembering September 11

In London,families of some of the 67 British victims gathered for a service at Grosvenor Chapel and a ceremony was held at St Paul’s Cathedral. Wreaths are to be laid at the September 11 Memorial Garden near the US embassy.

Foreign Secretary William Hague paid tribute to the “courage and dignity” of the US and victims of other attacks,including the 2005 London bombings.

US ambassador to the UK,Louis Susman,said Americans had reacted with strength to the terror attacks. He told BBC: “The big thing that we’ve seen is the incredible resiliency of the American people and people around the world. We don’t live in fear,our societies move forward,our businesses work

He added: “So we’ll never forget this day,it’s a moment which we feel confident that,whatever we did,we protected America and in some places the world.”

In the evening,there will be a service at Westminster Abbey. Members of the UK’s Firefighters Memorial Trust will lay a wreath in memory of the 343 members of New York’s fire department killed while responding to the attacks.

Services are also planned at Birmingham Cathedral and there will be events in Plymouth and at Truro Cathedral and Exeter Cathedral.

A minute’s silence will take place at the Rick Rescorla memorial in Hayle,Cornwall. Rescorla,62,who grew up in the town and was a security manager for a firm in the Twin Towers,died after leading more than 2,000 people to safety.

The Archbishop of Canterbury,Dr Rowan Williams,who was in Manhattan just two blocks away from the World Trade Center when the South Tower collapsed,told BBC Radio 2’s Sunday Programme about his memories.

He said: “I don’t think anybody at that moment started thinking ‘maybe I’ve got my faith wrong’,the question was what do I do with my faith? And I think that was one of the deep moments,that everybody just wanted to pray together. And we did that as we heard the unforgettable noise of the first tower coming down.”