Bristol dad wins lottery cash to build memorial to son

The father of a Bristol teenager killed in a plane crash has won his two-year campaign to raise money for a memorial to his son.

Gordon Clapp and the Emersons Green Skate Park Group won the public vote in the latest round of the Big Lottery Fund's People's Millions contest last night.

The group beat off stiff competition from another Bristol bid, the Snuff Mills Restoration Project, to win £40,762 after a vote by ITV West viewers.

The award, added to fund raising already carried out by Mr Clapp and his supporters, brings the grand total for the campaign to £50,000, which means plans for a park in memory of Jamie can now be created alongside

an existing facility in Emersons Green. Mangotsfield School pupil Jamie was just 13 when he was killed in a plane crash in 2007.

He had been offered the flight as a treat ahead of his 14th birthday by family friend Robbie Gunter, 34, from Downend.

But unknown to Jamie and his father, Mr Gunter was under investigation by aviation authorities for previous flying errors and being under the influence of ecstasy when he stalled the Cessna 150 light aircraft shortly after taking off from the Clutton Hill Farm airstrip.

Mr Clapp, 66, of Mangotsfield, has tirelessly organised fund-raising events since his son's death, including car boot sales, talent shows and auctions.

After winning the money, he told the Evening Post: "There are no words to describe this.

"I have been trying for two-and- a-half-years to raise money for the skate park.

"This is my dream and all the kids' dreams.

"We already have planning permission; I have been working closely with the council.

"We hope to start early next week and have it open at Easter."

The project will enhance the skate park near the Sainsbury's car park in Emersons Green, one of Jamie's favourite places to skateboard.

The improvements were designed by young people themselves and will be used for urban sports such as BMX riding, in-line rollerskating and skateboarding.

Mark Cotton, Big Lottery Fund head of region for the South West, said: "This is a great result for this community and just goes to show what groups can achieve when they have the support of their community behind them.

"There are some excellent projects still to be showcased, so I urge viewers to continue to tune in to ITV West, pick up the phone and vote for their favourite project."

This is the fifth year that the Big Lottery Fund has given the public the chance to vote on where lottery cash goes in their region.

Viewers of ITV's The West Country Tonight have been voting for winners all week, but tonight one of the groups that missed out will have the chance to win a runner-up prize.

They include the Snuff Mills group, which wants to spend £50,000 on making the woodland area near Frenchay more accessible for the public and disabled people.

Also hoping to be lucky second time around is a scheme to revamp a play area on the village green at Berrow, near Weston-super-Mare.

The proposal lost out to a similar scheme in Devon.

Berrow parish council clerk Lynn Smith said: "All hopes now rest on tonight's programme."