TODAY Worcestershire will mark the 10th anniversary of the July 7 terrorist attacks.

People across the county will observe a minute’s silence at 11.30am in honour of the 52 killed and more than 700 injured during the London atrocity a decade ago.

Special prayers will be said at each of Worcester Cathedral’s daily services while individuals and communities are expected to pay their respects through quiet self-reflection.

The attacks on three Tube trains and one bus by suicide bombers Mohammed Sidique Khan, 30, Shehzad Tanweer, 22, Hasib Hussain, 18, and Jermaine Lindsay, 19, affected numerous Worcestershire residents who were in the capital in 2005.

Many were close to the blasts and the 10-year anniversary is a particularly poignant time for those, like Christine Skelton, of Barbourne, who had lucky escapes.

She was on the London Underground when the terrorists struck and got caught up in the ensuing chaos, prompting a fearful friend to call to check she was ok.

“The tube I was on was evacuated, the buses were all crowded and mobile phone networks were then down, so I was unable to get to my destination”, recalled the Worcester woman, a former University of Birmingham professor.

“Eventually I gave up and returned to Waterloo station and when I reached Putney my friend rang me at 10.43am and I realised then how lucky I had been.”

That phone conversation has stuck in her mind and she has chosen to commemorate the exact moment in a special way.

She has sponsored the minute 10.43am as part of the Just A Minute campaign, an initiative aiming to raise £15,000 to restore the broken clock at St George’s Church in Barbourne.

“I thought Just A Minute was a brilliant fundraising idea and I decided it was an appropriate way to mark the July 7 anniversary”, added the professor.

Other Worcester residents had even closer escapes on July 7, 2005.

Construction worker Terry O’Shea was in the train which exploded at King’s Cross.

He told the Worcester News at the time: “I was in the third carriage, the one behind the one where the explosion was.

“There was a loud bang and we felt the train shudder. Then smoke started coming into the compartment. It was terrible.

“People were panicking, but they calmed down after one to two minutes.

“As they led us down the track past the carriage where the explosion was, we could see the roof was torn off it and there were bodies across the track.”

At the same time Tony Pryce, a senior West Mercia Police officer, was in the train directly behind the one blown up in Aldgate while George Silverman, of Malvern, heard the bus explode in Tavistock Square as he walked to a meeting.