Just one week ago, it was a Monday like most others in a quiet seaside town in the north west of England.

For the school children who live in Southport, it was the start of the summer holidays, and one group of young girls were excited to attend a Taylor Swift-themed dance workshop in a studio tucked behind a typical residential street.

But just minutes before the class was due to end, an incident so horrific was about to occur, that would change the lives of this community forever.

Three children were killed and others were injured in a knife attack that none of the locals could have ever predicted would happen in their town.

Now, a week later, the streets are not filled with children enjoying their summer of fun – the scribbled chalk no longer used for hopscotch.

Instead the names of the little girls who just wanted to dance are etched on the streets lined with floral tributes as the town comes to terms with its grief.

Alice, nine, Elsie, seven, and Bebe, six, were killed in that knife attack on Hart Street on 29 July, leaving a community in shock, consumed by grief.

Eight other children and two adults were also seriously injured, and five children remain in Alder Hey Children’s Hospital, in Liverpool.

But Southport has shown its compassion, its kindness and its willingness to pull together over the past seven days.

Hundreds of flowers, plants, teddy bears, bracelets and messages have been left on Hart Street, where the attack took place.

Tributes also lie in front of the Atkinson Theatre on Lord Street as more mourners, united in their collective grief, come to pay their silent respects to the small town.

Andrew Brown, who runs community group Stand Up For Southport, said the town had a “massive healing process” to go through with more “trauma” to come.

He said the community was still in shock and would be for a “very long time” but the incident was a once-in-a-lifetime event and the community kindness shown over the past week had been “incredible”.

Mr Brown, a former editor at the Southport Visiter, said: “It is an incredible sight, there’s so many nice things because Southport is such a kind town.”

From neighbours taking in tributes to protect them from the rain, to those tending to the plants and popping bouquets of flowers in water, as well as the children making friendship bracelets and writing messages to all those affected, the town has shown its community spirit is not broken.

Mr Brown said: “One woman who lives in the house on Hart Street where all the flowers are outside her home, she lit up her tree pink and its a beautiful memorial.”

However, he said the town still had a huge amount of trauma to come.

“You still have got the court cases, all of these children who are still in Alder Hey Hospital yet to come home, I can’t imagine what injuries they have or how long there recovery is going to be.

“I can’t even bear to think about the funerals of the three children, the inquest, there is so much still to come and I think Southport is still deep in grief.

“It’s a small town but it’s a very friendly town, lots of families, and a lot are finding it hard.”

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Violence erupted on the Tuesday following the attack in the Merseyside seaside town, with police blaming far-right groups, and it has since spread to other towns and cities across England.

False claims were spread online that the person responsible was an asylum seeker who had arrived in the UK by boat and a Muslim.

Axel Muganwa Rudakubana, from Banks in Lancashire, has been charged with three counts of murder, 10 attempted murders and possession of a curved kitchen knife.

The 17-year-old, who was born to Rwandan parents in Cardiff and moved to the Southport area in 2013, has no known links to Islam.

Over the past week riots have broken out in towns across the UK, with a number of buildings targeted and assaults taking place in Liverpool over the weekend.

Mr Brown said Southport should not be associated with the disorder being shown.

“People certainly don’t need the rioting, because all that matters is the families of the three children who have died and the families who are in hospital and everyone else who was there”.

Meanwhile, a Warrington-based charity working to resolve conflicts across the UK said, now more than ever, peace building is needed in the country.

Colin Parry, OBE, chief executive officer of the Tim Parry Johnathan Ball Foundation – established as a living memorial to two children, Tim Parry and Johnathan Ball, who were killed by an IRA bombing in Warrington in 1993 – said the Southport families would be feeling a “whole mix of emotions”.

Mr Parry told BBC Radio Merseyside: “There will be a whole mix of emotions from total sadness, to bewilderment that their child should be one of the very unfortunate ones whose life was taken.

“Immediate family and friends are so important to wrap around these people, so they don’t feel alone.”

He said he was impressed by the “spirit of togetherness” by the community of Southport but added that the use social media was a rising concern following the recent riots.

He said government intervention in the national curriculum was needed so children could learn from an early age that “fighting and falling out over faith, colour, religion, football team, isn’t the way to a happy life”.

Mr Parry said it was the age group of the girls who lost their lives that they hope their charity could make a difference with.

A bubble blowing event will be held on Monday evening at 18:00 BST outside The Atkinson for the community, and in particular children, to “blow kisses to heaven” in memory of the three girls, Mr Brown said.

He added: “Children are going to go back to school in September and their classmates are going to be missing, so it’s a hard one to talk about it, which is why these community events are important.

“No one wants children to be locked away over the summer holidays.

“I’ve never seen anything like this in my lifetime and I hope to never see it again, you want children and families to feel safe and it is understandable that many won’t.”

Kylie Clift said she organised the event so “our children” can grieve too.

She said: “I have been donated hundreds of bubbles from various local shops, arcades, charities and even from families of the victims themselves.

“There will be time to take a moment and remember those we’ve lost and those who still continue to fight.”

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