As a parent, you can't help making plans for your children. You plan their birthday parties, trying to work out what food and drink can be consumed by over-excited little guests without making them even more hyper.

You make plans for where they will go to school. You dream of them going to university and make plans for saving towards their fees.

The one thing you don't plan for is your child's funeral.

It's something no parent ever wants to contemplate.

But this is what Kim Atkinson has been forced to do, after her 15-year-old son Troy was killed in a hit-and-run accident in Bristol city centre last week.

In the midst of her grief at losing the youngest of her four children, she was faced with the prospect of having to find around £3,000 to give him a decent burial.

But then along came Troy's many friends.

Last night hundreds of people, most of them teenagers, walked from the Castlemead building in Lower Castle Street, near the scene of the crash, to Troy's family home in Gatcombe Road, Hartcliffe.

Each person on the walk donated £5 towards the cost of a funeral service for Troy.

The walk was organised by some of Troy's friends; Sarah Veale, 19; Sophie Williams, 14; and Elly-Jane Cox, 18.

They didn't sit around complaining about the unfairness of a grieving family having to find thousands of pounds in order to pay for a funeral.

Nor did these girls assume that Bristol City Council could be left to pick up the tab – even though the council does pay for the funerals of those whose families cannot afford to do so.

Instead, they got onto the Facebook site that Sophie had already set up in Troy's memory and suggested a fundraising walk, touching a chord with the hundreds of people who came to take part last night.

What a contrast to the 22-year-old from Henbury who was complaining earlier this week that the council should provide a youth club to reduce juvenile crime in the area.

These young people didn't expect someone else to sort out this tragic situation.

Instead, they showed leadership and responsibility, and in doing so became a force for good.

Troy himself would surely have approved of his friends' actions, for he was someone who kept himself occupied rather than expecting activities to be provided for him.

He was a star player for Nailsea and Backwell Rugby Club at under 12, 13, and 14 level, and then joined St Mary's Rugby Club in Bradley Stoke.

My elder son's rugby team often plays against St Mary's, and some of his friends play for this highly-regarded club. It's a place where the boys train hard, and play hard, and they don't carry passengers.

It's not easy to get out of bed on a cold Sunday morning to play in a match, knowing you will almost certainly end up falling hard onto the muddy ground.

Troy did it, probably because he was an active boy who liked to do things.

Last night his many friends and relations honoured his memory in the best way possible – by doing something, instead of expecting someone else to do it.

Nothing can ease the pain of losing a child.

But hopefully Kim Atkinson can take comfort from the knowledge that her son inspired hundreds of people to walk in his memory.

She should be proud of him – and proud of herself for having raised such an inspirational young man.