A CHURCH vigil is taking place tonight to pay respect to the 22 victims of the Manchester Arena bombing.

St John the Baptist's Church in Atherton will be hosting the memorial service from 7pm.

Twenty-two balloons will be released during a minute's silence at 7.22pm in tribute to those who lost their lives in Monday night's terror attack.

The service, which has been organised by Elizabeth Eastham, 31, and her partner Danielle Fahey, 23, will also include a prayer reading from The Rev Reg Sinclair.

Elizabeth said: "Quite a few people, including Danielle and I, missed memorial events that were organised last night so we decided to arrange one for tonight.

“The terror attack has had such a horrific and negative impact on Greater Manchester and the UK, spreading across into Europe.

"It is a massive heartbreaking situation that we are in.

“We need to show that although we are a small community we can all pull together and show support and respect to the victims.

“We are all part of Greater Manchester and we all need to stick together.

“If you hurt one of us, you hurt all of us."

Everyone is welcome to attend the service at the Market Place church.