A FORMER Westbury resident was in America on Wednesday paying tribute to the thousands that died on September 11.

Ros Woodcock, lived in Westbury and Trowbridge from 1983 to 1997 and was a French teacher at Matravers School, Westbury.

Now living in Brookfield, Connecticut, she said the mood in her town was sombre during memorial ceremonies, but people were eager to put the tragedy behind them.

She said: "Most people don't really want to go through it all again, as the images are too graphic and too painful.

"In our community there is great sadness and respect. After today maybe Ground Zero won't be such a tourist attraction. I'm just glad that today is over."

A year ago, Mrs Woodcock spent the whole day in front of the television in tears after hijacked planes struck the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington.

She said: "We live about 65 minutes drive from downtown Manhattan, in the heart of commuterland.

"I watched TV in disbelief as the second plane hit. The image just wouldn't fit into my mind. I couldn't make any sense of what I was seeing. I suddenly realised that my husband Paul was due to have a morning meeting in Manhattan and I spent the next three hours frantically trying to get hold of him."

To her relief, Mrs Woodcock eventually got through to Paul and discovered that he was unable to get into the city because roads had been blocked off.

She said: "It chills me now to think that while I was trying to get through to him people were making those last phone calls from the Towers and from the planes.

"I spent the day in shock, in tears, in front of the TV. I wanted to call my family in the UK but couldn't get through. I drove round to a friend's house I needed company. My friend used to work in Tower 1 and knew lots of people who worked there.

"Later in the evening I went down to our local store to get a paper. A man was in there buying cigarettes. He was a businessman in shirt and trousers, covered in grey dust from head to toe. He had just managed to get back from Manhattan having being caught in the collapse."

Over the next few days it became clear to Mrs Woodcock just how awful things were, but American patriotism took hold.

She said: "I placed the Stars and Stripes next to the Union Jack in my window. Many people came and said how nice it was to see the two flags side by side."

Now a year on, Mrs Woodcock said American people are still finding it hard to come to terms with the tragedy.

She said: "September 11 changed the US forever. New York City is trying to decide what to do with that great hole. The relatives are screaming for the area to be left as a peaceful memorial yet the city wants to build bigger and better."