TO HELP SAVE ‘SUPERSTAR’
Following death of 11-year-old Zac
Natalie added: “He was small but feisty. He was a real superstar in our [rugby] team.”
In the August after his death Zac’s teammates held a memorial football and rugby match.
“They knew they were doing it in his memory,” said Natalie.
“It helped them get back into it and allowed them the chance to talk about what happened.”
Zac’s friendship group had been together since he was four. Lucy’s youngest son shares a birthday with Zac’s brother Tyler. “We’ve got lovely memories,” she added.
“It affected us all because it could have been any one of us,” said Natalie, who is determined to make this year’s fun day even bigger and better than the last.
“We don’t want his memory to fade.”
This year’s fun day will be held on July 22, which will also mark the anniversary of Zac’s funeral. The inaugural event raised funds which were split between the Wales Air
Ambulance and Angle RNLI who both provided aid to Zac. Since then Forever11 has been awarded charity status and it will now raise funds to put towards water safety and drowning prevention in Pembrokeshire.
So far the charity has worked to identify and replace broken or missing life-saving equipment around the coastline such as life rings and throw ropes. It’s also held its first free water safety awareness course for 32 schoolkids. But it wants to do more and believes the key is to teach kids on the beach in a real-world scenario.
“Living on the coast it’s surprising the number of children who haven’t been to the beach,” said Natalie.
She knows it’s impossible to wrap children up against all danger but there are ways to make them more aware, she said. Things like knowing and understanding the tides and winds when you go out paddle boarding make a difference.
After receiving charity status in February this year, the Forever11 team said: “Forever11 started out as a saying by Zac’s school and team-mates. It’s something that resonated across the community as a symbol of our love and heartache – a loss that impacted and shocked everyone who knew him.
“We often talk about the rugby family and for us Zac was part of that family. The family fun day and memorial match was originally a one-off event to raise money for the organisations that tried to help Zac but the outstanding attendance of our community saw us raise over £10,000. We saw this as an opportunity to create something special.”
This year the fun day will feature a samba band, a performance by the Kelly Williams school of dance, axe-throwing and archery by Paddle West, and music by Honey Fungus. There will also be traditional stalls, as well as a display by the Pembrokeshire fire spinners and various inflatable fun.
To find out more visit the Forever11 Charity page on Facebook.