Schoolboy cricketers’ six-hitting leaves mother fearing for five-year-old’s life
Youngster suffered severe concussion after he was struck in the face by stray ball while visiting friends
IT IS enough of a shock for a parent to learn their child has been injured playing sport at school, but a whole different level of distress to witness your young son get hit in the face with a cricket ball, when he wasn’t even taking part in the game.
That is what happened to one mother whose son – five-year-old Harry Butt – was standing on the driveway of a family friend’s home when a cricket ball from the nearby school playing fields sailed over the fence and hit him in the face. Michelle Butt had taken her son and her 12-year-old twin daughters to visit friends before heading off for a camping trip to Weymouth.
They were on the drive of the house in Dorset when the ball from Poole Grammar School whistled past Mrs Butt’s ear and struck Harry.
Now the five-year-old’s family are demanding safety improvements at the school claiming “the next victim might not be so lucky”.
With the support of local residents, Mrs Butt is demanding action before someone else is seriously injured.
The 41-year-old claimed residents on Haslar Road had been complaining for years about cricket balls hitting their cars, conservatories and ending up on their roofs.
She said action should have been taken before a child was nearly killed. “I just feel really upset that they’ve been told about the balls going over and nothing has been done,” she said. “I know that you can have netting around the pitches.
It’s also about the safety of the students at the school
– obviously it’s not big enough to play a game of cricket, because the balls keep coming over the fence.
“I just think the way it’s been dealt with is not professional and it should have been done before.”
The accident left
Harry with severe concussion, a swollen nose and black eyes.
His family say he has been suffering from hearing and sight problems since the incident.
Mrs Butt added: “It sounded like a bomb had gone off – my little boy was on the floor. We were all in shock and he was dazed. We took him to A&E and we were admitted to hospital.
“He was violently sick, had really bad concussion and the consultant said if it had hit him anywhere else, he wouldn’t be here. It hit him on the forehead, on the side.”
Andy Baker, the headteacher of Poole Grammar School, said the school regretted the incident. He told Mailonline: “It was a very unfortunate, oneoff accident. We very much regret the injury to the little lad and the stress caused to his family.”
He said the suggestion of safety netting being installed above the boundary fence had been looked into before but the school had been advised that the local authority would not grant planning permission.
He added: “I am also not sure how safe it would be with the wind we get here. What we are going to do for senior matches, where the boys are that much bigger and stronger, we will use another pitch that is further from the boundary.
“We can’t risk this happening again.”
Cllr Ray Tindle, who represents Canford Heath West, said he and Sean Gabriel, a fellow ward councillor, would work with residents and the school to find a solution. He added: “The school has got to face up to the fact that this is an issue and something has to be done.”
‘It sounded like a bomb had gone off – my little boy was on the floor. We were all in shock and he was dazed’