General Chat

Rest in Peace, young Ben Manning, missing after a night out on Jan 21st, it seems his body has been found in a local river where he would have been walking alongside. His brother says he wasn't a strong swimmer. What a waste of a young life, he was 17 years old.

It's coming up to 8 years on Saturday night since a young man,Paul Brennan, drowned in our River Wensum after a night out, and there have been others since locally, and more in other areas of the country. I am still in contact with his family who are coping as well as they can with their loss - they live in Shrewsbury and Paul was at uni here in Norwich.

So sad, and such heartbreak for their families, it's usually young men who this happens to and they aren't always found immediately so days of agony while the families and friends search and wait for news.

Lizx

I do wish theyoung would stop seeing the pub and club as a good night out. It always seems to be that tragedy happens after what is called a good night out.

Jean, I wish these lads and lasses would drink less and stay with friends instead of walking around alone. That's mostly when the accidents happen. I wonder if the lads go too close to the water instead of trying to find a toilet, then they slip or overbalance when relieving themselves.

So very sad for them and their families tho


Lizx

So sad to hear this. Another 17 year old died locally 7 years ago again after a night out in early Jan. He was missing for over 2 weeks before he was found. As a mum of 2 sons who thankfully have outgrown their nights out I feel for the families left behind. RIP Ben.
Di

The body hasn't been officially identified as yet,but the police are keeping the parents informed..

Just been on local tv.

I understand his brother has already announced his death on facebook so I would imagine it's pretty certain to be Ben.



I met the family of the lad drowned in Norwich as I was angry about the lack of safety rails etc along that part of our river, only yards from a new nightclub and bar complex and they too were angry and wanted to know why the Council had left the area unprotected. The detective put me in touch with them and they asked me to attend the inquest with them as they weren't local. It was such a hard thing to do, to sit with them as they listened to the people who tried to help Paul get out of the river, he was a strong swimmer but that night, the evening of my o.h.'s birthday, was bitterly cold and the river level higher than usual. O.h. and I had been to Ipswich on a day out by train so came off the station near the complex a few hours earlier than the tragedy. The day after the tragedy is his Mum's birthday, and probably that year his card was already in the post to her.
Can you imagine every birthday you feel the loss even more than usual?
Must be so hard to cope with it.
There were ladders under the concrete edge of the riverside walk but in the dark they weren't visible and altho people tried to point to them to let Paul know where they were, he couldn't see them. Thanks to the fuss his parents and I made and with me taking local councillors and mps to see what was missing, special lights were installed under the rim that should show up the position of the ladders. The local council had commissioned a Rospa report when the complex was built, sadly they then ignored the advice, had they done so there would have been more railings at the edge and lighting or more visibility so Paul might not have drowned.
His family and I are still in touch at Christmas and such, they have a daughter who is now married, Paul wasn't there to see his sister wed, and any children she has won't have an uncle now. So very sad. He was training to be a teacher of religious studies and very well thought of at the school he was helping while he trained. He wasn't a heavy drinker, just a lad in his mid twenties who hadn't eaten much before meeting a childhood friend passing through Norwich for a drink or several.

Reading the messages on facebook for this lad Ben, is hearbreaking but also inspiring in the way everyone has come together to pay tribute and support his family, even folk who don't know them personally.

One person mentions that she was at the funeral of another lad who died in a similar way, there must be a way young people could be educated about safety measures and not drinking so much or getting too close to water at night.

Wish I could think of something...

Lizx

It seems that, no matter how people try, there is no way that youngsters today are going to see the dangers they put themselves into by drinking too much. To them now it is seen as a way of life which is so sad. In the paper this week there was a piece about young teenagers (14) who had spirits, if I remember right, almost every day and thought nothing of it. That is despite tightening up on the sale of alcohol to uder 18s it seems, if they want it they can get it.

Unfortunately our society is blinkered to the fact that alcohol is an extremely dangerous and very addictive drug.
Perhaps its time the legal age for using this particular drug was raised to 21 and then only in strictly controlled amounts and environments.
Moreover, it is not even necessary for there to be any alcohol in drink at all. Perhaps we'd all be better off if the drug was taken out of all beers, wines etc.
I speak as a squeaky clean non smoking, non drinking person who has no use for "recreational drugs".

nudging this old thread

my heart goes out to all who have lost a loved one in this way. so very very sad...