Bereaved mum to walk up The Wrekin 20 times in daughter’s memory

A bereaved mother has said a charity challenge she is undertaking has helped her feel close to her child, who was killed in a crash two years ago.

Leanne Vaughan’s daughter Lily-May, 17, died when the car she was in came off the road and hit an electricity pole near Shawbury, in Shropshire, on 4 February 2023.

On 3 April this year, 19-year-old Logan Addison, the vehicle’s driver and Lily-May’s boyfriend, was found guilty of causing death by dangerous driving.

Ms Vaughan, from Kidderminster, Worcestershire, said the process had been a “brutal experience” and she was determined to do what she could to ensure other families do not go through what she has.

To mark what would have been Lily-May’s 20th birthday, she is undertaking a number of charity walks which will see her climb The Wrekin, 20 times throughout 2025.

She started the challenge earlier this year and told BBC Radio Shropshire she aimed to complete it on 2 September – Lily-May’s birthday.

Ms Vaughan said she and her daughter would often go for walks and this challenge was a way of “feeling close to her”.

“When I do these walks, I just imagine Lily-May next to me smiling and it brings me comfort,” Ms Vaughan said.

As well as promoting a campaign for graduated driver licensing, she also hopes to raise money for road crash victims charity RoadPeace, an organisation that helped Ms Vaughan through her grief.

“I don’t want anyone to ever be in my situation and that’s why we’re raising awareness,” she said.

“When it does happen to you, your whole world feels like it’s ended. You don’t know how you can even get to the next day.”

By scattering the walks throughout the year, Ms Vaughan said it enabled others who knew Lily-May to join in, including her favourite school teacher, who took part last week.

On Sunday, she will be joined by Crystal Owen, from Shrewsbury, who started campaigning after her 17-year-old son Harvey died in a crash in November 2023.

Ms Owen said without charities like RoadPeace, life would be “very different” for the grief-stricken families.

“Ultimately, we don’t want our children to be forgotten about,” she said.

For Ms Vaughan, despite remaining heartbroken at Lily-May’s death, the walks give her and others an opportunity to share memories of her daughter, who she described as a “positive ray of sunshine”.

“Even though she’s no longer here, I can feel her energy and her love,” she said. “If you ever met Lily-May, you would never forget her.”