SIX medical staff who helped care for the victims of the Manchester Arena bombing in May mingled with the stars at a Christmas banquet held to honour the Heroes of 2017.

The staff from Bolton Royal Hospital were invited as representatives of health service staff who looked after patients and their families in the aftermath of the bomb explosion.

Royal Bolton was one of 11 hospitals, which took in people injured by the bomb attack on May 22 at the Ariana Grande concert in the city centre venue. There were 22 people killed and over 500 injured. Put on major incident alert at 11pm that night, the hospital took in eight patients by ambulance as well as many more ‘walking wounded’, some of whom were badly injured.

Two months ago, the staff at the hospital came in for praise for their care from Prime Minister, Theresa May. In a letter to Bolton NHS Foundation Trust chief executive Jackie Bene, she said the dedication and “truly outstanding work” showed by staff made “the whole country proud”.

Mrs May added: “I know that your hospital cared for victims of the attack and that staff worked incredibly hard to deliver world-class treatment to those tragically caught up in it.”

The latest function in London to honour their efforts featured food created by Gordon Ramsay and fellow celebrity chef Gino D’Acampo, with the diners voting on their favourite dishes.

Accident and emergency consultant Dr Hannah Durrant, who was called in to the hospital on the night of the bomb said: “At first I didn’t know why we’d been invited to the banquet as we were just doing our job, but then I realised we were representing the whole team who had been involved. I felt honoured and privileged -- and the banquet was a truly wonderful evening.”

Bolton hospital chaplain, Rev Neville Markham said the cooking was fabulous. He explained: “We’re not allowed to reveal who the winner was, but I can tell you that the dishes were melt in the mouth wonderful.”

The banquet also celebrated the contribution of people from emergency services and others who had been involved in helping after a number of serious incidents during the year. The glamorous event at Merchant Taylors’ Hall in London will be shown on Thursday, December 21, at 9pm on ITV.

In October the hospital’s bereavement nurse Laura Prescott, was among representatives of Manchester’s emergency and medical services to collect The Barclays Women of the Year Award, for the support given to the victims and their families.