It is five years to the day since the Grenfell Tower tragedy, and the community is coming together to remember the 72 lives lost during the fire.

Laila Williams, who is blind, will always think of the tower.

She lives at the Lancaster West Estate in North Kensington and while she might not be able to see the remnants of the former residential block, she feels its presence five years on.

Laila visits a small lavender garden several times a day and runs her fingers across the purple flowers, and enjoys their smell between drags of a cigarette.

The short walk to the garden is a reminder for Laila about the tragic events which unfolded on June 14, 2017.

She said: ‘When I’m going up the ramp the building is on my left and when I’m going down it’s on my right,’ she said.

‘[Outsiders] think about Grenfell once a year, but for us that live here it is every day.’

People across the country remember the haunting scenes of the flames engulfing the tower – but Laila’s experience of the event was different.

Laila recalled hearing the warning shouts from neighbours which woke her on the night of the tragedy.

‘Fire, fire,’ she heard her friend Kim shouting, ‘everybody wake up.’

Laila had no idea what was happening at first, but as the fire worsened she began to feel it.

‘The way I heard the fire, no one here heard it like that,’ she said. ‘When the fires started to go up [the building] I heard it whistling, like the noise a candle flame makes. The higher it went, the louder the sound.’

‘It was horrible,’ she added. ‘The people there didn’t have a choice, if they stayed they were going to die. If they jumped they would die too.

‘We have to remember those people and we have to speak to make the government wake up and make sure buildings are safe. If they are refurbishing a tower block they have to make sure it’s safe.’

A memorial service marking the anniversary was held at Westminster Abbey this morning, where the names of the all victims were read out.

Roses will be laid on the Innocent Victims’ Memorial and the bell will toll 72 times.

Members of the Grenfell Next of Kin group, which represents those bereaved by the tragedy, said they do not want their loved ones’ deaths to have been in vain as they continue to fight for justice.

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