People attempt to reclaim town
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Soham began the long process of healing yesterday by clearing the 10,000 bunches of flowers left at the church.
Methodist minister Alan Ashton, who has comforted the families of the dead schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, yesterday began the clear-up operation at St Andrew's Church.
He joined hundreds of volunteers from Soham, the surrounding area and American servicemen at RAF Lakenheath in the churchyard of St Andrew's for what he said was a "symbolic act" for the town. "I think it's going to mark a significant point that the church now looks like it always does," he told The Independent on Sunday yesterday. "We have entered into a period that gives the community time to come to terms with what has happened. That process will take a long time."
Since the discovery of the bodies of the school friends Soham had been under "huge pressure" from visitors and well-wishers, many of whom had experienced loss or bereavement themselves and had asked to visit the families.
"The families have been virtually prisoners in their own homes," said Rev Ashton. "There has been a feeling that we are in a goldfish bowl and that the community has stopped living. They ask 'when are we going to get our town back?' The family, those brave and dignified parents, can now start to use Soham again."
The need for the town to return to normal was echoed by Rev Tim Alban Jones, the vicar of St Andrew's, who led Friday's celebration of the girls' lives at Ely Cathedral.
"The usual platitude is that time heals," he said, "which I think is incorrect. Time makes things easier. The removal of the flowers was a first step and the start of school term is going to help in what is going to be a long and painful journey."
The flowers will be composted, the cards saved and given to the families of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, and the hundreds of soft toys sent to children's charities.
Jessica Chapman's parents were today marking what would have been their daughter's birthday. Police said the Chapman family would spend today – when Jessica would have been 11 – privately together after remembering their daughter.