"I'm really proud of myself": Manchester Arena attack survivor competing for Miss Manchester crown

A Manchester Arena attack survivor is competing for the title of Miss Manchester – saying she feels “so proud” of how far she’s come.

Modelle Hughes-Gervis, from Salford, was just 14 when she was caught up in the May 2017 bombing which killed 22 people.

The then-teenager had asked for Ariana Grande concert tickets for Christmas and couldn’t wait to watch her favourite singer with her best friend.

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The pair were still in the arena when the bomb detonated but managed to escape the chaos unharmed – however the mental scars remain.

Modelle, now 20, said: “We heard it was a bomb, but we didn’t know whether there were literal planes above us dropping bombs or bombs around the arena.

“I remember thinking, for all I know, a bomb could fall on my head or go off next to me.”

Modelle, who works as a model, says she “tried to carry on as normal” in the days, weeks and months that followed the tragedy but “normal didn’t feel reachable for a very long time”.

Working in the Trafford Centre, Modelle still gets triggered by loud noises or the sound of people screaming.

“Sometimes that anxiety of being like, ‘Oh my God, what was that?’ creeps in and you get a bit panicked,” she added.

“When you’re in a public setting and things like that happen, it definitely triggers the paranoia of something happening again.

“I was in Cyprus a few years after the attack and there was a storm that triggered my anxiety. There was thunder that sounded just like the bomb.”

But Modelle was determined not to let the tragedy hold her back in life – seeing her go on to model professionally and even take part in beauty pageants.

Modelle applied for the title of Miss