Geordie Respect For Hillsborough Victims!

The Kop and the Centenary stands at Liverpool's Anfield Stadium were opened early for the official memorial service, which was due to begin at 2.45pm.

As numbers grew, part of the main stand was also opened to the public.

At 3.06pm, the exact time the referee blew the whistle and abandoned the FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest, a two-minute silence was planned throughout Merseyside and in Nottingham's Old Market Square.

After complications with the victims' families it was decided there would be no formal ceremony in Sheffield.

The Leppings Lane end of the Hillsborough ground, where the crush took place, was opened up earlier today for people to visit and pay their respects.

Hundreds of floral tributes, scarves and football shirts of all colours were laid outside the Hillsborough memorial and tied to the Shankly Gates outside the Kop on Anfield Road.

Groups of people stood, hugged and some wept as they looked at the names of those who died in Britain's deadliest sporting disaster.

At the centre of the memorial burns an eternal flame, signifying they will never be forgotten.