A regional daily columnist has written a song in tribute to his hometown of Manchester following the terror attack there a fortnight ago.

Keen musician Steve Canavan, left, of Blackpool daily The Gazette, has recorded an old song he wrote about the city, with reworked lyrics, after getting a positive reception when performing it in a pub.

The song has been uploaded to Youtube, and has since been widely shared on social media.

Steve worked for many years as The Gazette’s Blackpool FC reporter and later moved to become its entertainment writer, but now lectures in sports journalism at the University of Central Lancashire, in Preston.

He said: “I wrote this song years ago about being proud to be Mancunian and it’s such a lovely, friendly place. After the horrific events I felt moved to do something else.

“I just put some words down and was playing it in my bathroom, then at the local pub, and people liked it so I put it on Youtube. The reception’s been nice and I’ve had a lot of nice comments.

“I know a few people who were there that night and there was a fatality from the Blackpool area, where I live, so it was my way of reacting to that in song.

“I hope it gets listened to by a few people. It means a lot to me and it would be great if a lot of other people thought it was OK.”