GAZETTE readers have remembered where and what they were doing at the time of the September 11 attacks.

Elaine Dye, of Clacton, was working at a school when the Twin Towers were hit by two commercial airliners.

She said: “I was in my classroom and the caretaker called me into their office to see the events unfolding on TV.

“I was horrified.”

Lindsey Procter, also of Clacton, thought the events she was seeing unfold on screen were fiction. She said: “I was at home watching the news thinking it was a film and not real.”

Echo:

Tina Chipperfield, of Witham, also could not believe her eyes.

She said: “I was at home, home-schooling our two sons.

“My husband phoned and said to put the TV on straight away.

“We couldn’t believe what we were seeing, it seemed more like a film than reality - heart-breaking.”

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Carlene Grainger, of Colchester, says her son was eventually born on September 11, 11 years ago. She added: “I watched it on the news and was crying with sadness for all those poor lives lost.

“I have always seen it and remembered it as a very sad day.

“So, I didn’t want my son to be born on September 11.

“But if that’s not him determined to make it a happy day again in my mind I don’t know what is.”