Six bereaved parents came together in a show of supportThe Two of Us premiere including Tim Edwards(3rd left), with (L-R) Michael Rainsford Snr, Carolyn Cox, Julie Dale, Cheryl Korbel and Joanne Rimmer(Image: Andrew Teebay Liverpool Echo)
Six families of murdered loved ones came together for an inspiring moment of unity and support. Tim Edwards’s daughter, Elle Edwards, 26, was murdered in a shooting outside the Lighthouse pub in Wallasey Village in December 2022.
Days after her murder, her grieving dad, 53, got in touch with Liverpool actor John May, who was preparing to walk from Lands End to John O’Groats as part of a campaign to end gun and knife crime. Mr Edwards joined him for the walk at Worcester, initially just to “get out of town”, but ended up accompanying him all the way to the top of Scotland, later travelling down south to complete the first leg of the walk.
Two years on from their challenge, a documentary called The Two Of Us has been screened at the Raindance Film Festival and has now being shown to family, friends and well-known people from across Merseyside at The Light cinema in New Brighton.
Part of those who joined the Merseyside premiere were parents whose children were victims of gun or knife crime, as six bereaved parents came together for a powerful photo and Tim told the ECHO they all continue to support each other.
Cheryl Korbel, mother of Olivia Pratt-Korbel, Julie Dale, mother of Ashley Dale, Joanne Rimmer, mother of Sam Rimmer, Carolyn Cox, mother of Ellis Cox, and Michael Rainsford, father of Michael Rainsford Jr all joined Tim for the photo in front of the movie’s poster at the cinema in a statement against horrifying crimes that claim the lives of innocent people throughout the region.
Speaking to the ECHO on Wednesday, the night of the premiere, Tim said: “This is special because it’s with the people who were involved in the making of the film, friends, family, and this is where Elle was brought up. This was her stomping ground. It was only right that we had it here.
“We could have gone into town which would have been great, but this is special.”
Speaking about having the victims of crime there alongside him and his family, he continued: “It’s the old cliché of being part of a club you never wanted to be in, but the fact of the matter is that’s how it is. We’ve all lost loved ones to gun crime or knife crime.
“You get the same feeling when you meet other families who are going through the same thing; they’re the only ones who understand how you feel. You’re amongst your own, but at the same time it gives you that sense of relief because you’re not alone. It’s the best of a bad situation. We all support each other, and we’re all there for each other.”
Tim Edwards and John May(Image: Andrew Teebay Liverpool Echo)
He continued: “Elle would love this, she would absolutely love this. She’d be laughing saying ‘come one dad’, but she would also be proud for keeping her name alive. That’s the goal for me, it’s always been the goal, and on the back of that it spreads a message of awareness against gun and knife crime.”
Carolyn, who continues to campaign to find the person who opened fire on her son Ellis last year, told the ECHO: “We’ve got to support each other because we’ve all lost our children.
“Tim and John have supported us and so I think whenever there’s an event on, we’ve just all got to support each other and keep the awareness going. We’re not going to stop until we get justice for Ellis and we’ll never let any of our children’s names go away.”
Speaking about the support from all the families of those who have suffered at the hands of gun and knife crime, Carolyn said: “We don’t have to explain it to each other because we know how each other is feeling. It’s feels supportive because you could sit in a room and say nothing but you know that they know how I feel and I know how they feel without having toi explain it. It’s good to be together.
“I am stunned when I look around seeing so many people. It shows how many good people there are.”
Other guests at the screening included former Liverpool player Sammy Lee, screenwriter Jimmy McGovern and producer Colin McKeown.
John May, 43, who produced the feature-length documentary, said he hoped people would be inspired. The actor, soon to star as Wayne Rooney in a production at Liverpool’s Royal Court, said: “The documentary is not really about the walk, it’s more about friendship and about men’s mental health and grief and how we leaned on each other and perked each other up throughout the walk.
“It’s about brotherhood more than anything, I’d say.”
The film, put together from vlogs filmed by the pair at the time and interviews once they had returned, shows the highs and lows of the journey – which at one point saw them separating for 10 days after a falling out.