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Songs, Prayers and Tears in New York

5,000 seats faced the concert stage, but they were not enough. Almost 2,000 people also gathered yesterday at Westminster Cathedral in London.

As automatic fire hoses rained water down upon the still burning wreckage, the air was filled with a fine mist of smoke and steam. Relatives were clearly shocked by the scale of destruction.

They clung to each other, some openly weeping. Mothers held up photographs of sons; fathers held up pictures of their daughters. It was not the time for speeches. Music was the medium for people's thoughts.

A rousing rendition of The Star Spangled Banner by Daniel Rodriguez, a New York policeman, set the tone for the open-air concert during which Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli sang Schubert's Ave Maria and the American soprano Renee Fleming sang Amazing Grace. Lord LLoyd Webber played piano accompaniment to Shonagh Daly as she sang Let us Live in Peace

New York's mayor, Rudolph Giuliani said, "For some people it is very comforting being there. It was important to them to pray, and to feel a connection to the people they lost."

At the end of the service the families slowly made their way back to the Family Assistance Centre to collect polished urns containing earth from the disaster site.

At Westminster Cathedral the congregation, which included relatives and friends of the victims, heard an appeal for tolerance and reconciliation from the Bishop of Galveston-Houston, Texas, Joseph Fiorenza. Many people present felt the full force of six weeks of exhaustion and emotion come flooding back. Bishop Fiorenza thanked the British people for their solidarity with the United States. He told the congregation that the aftermath of the attacks was an opportunity for people to reclaim their human values. He said, "While we have rightful anger at the terrorists who are responsible for so much death and destruction on September 11, we must be watchful this is not translated into misguided hatred for them or for the Muslim people. If we give in to misdirected hatred we place ourselves on their level."