The tenth anniversary of the tragic drowning of a four year-old boy who was swept from Burnham-On-Sea jetty in 2012 is to be marked this week.
Dylan Cecil was on a family holiday in Burnham-On-Sea when he tragically died on August 19th, 2012.
Family and friends of Dylan will gather next to a plaque on the sea wall in his memory this Friday (August 19th) at 6pm – the exact time that the boy was sadly lost to the sea a decade ago.
After his death, a memorial fund was formed to help under-privileged children and their families by providing respite holidays in the south west.
And on Sunday (August 21st), local motorbikers will take part in a bike run to raise cash for the memorial fund.
The bikes will arrive on Burnham seafront at around 12.30pm and a minute’s silence is planned outside the Coastguard / BARB station at around 1.30pm by Burnham’s marine rescue services.
The crews were called out on August 19th, 2012 following reports of a young boy in the water next to Burnham’s jetty.
The Cecil family were in the area visiting family and had decided to go for a trip to the beach when tragedy struck. Tragically, while he was playing in the shallow water on the jetty, four-year-old Dylan slipped and fell into the sea.
His mother and father attempted to rescue him by jumping into the water and also nearly became victims of the strong incoming tidal currents. Within seconds, Dylan had been carried out to sea.
Burnham’s Coastguards, RNLI and BARB crewmembers undertook a full-scale search in an attempt to find him until Dylan’s body was sadly found washed up by a walker near the yacht club on August 23rd, 2012.
A number of safety enhancements were introduced in Burnham-On-Sea in the wake of the death, including improved jetty signage, an audible warning system at the jetty building, and enhanced lifeguarding during the busy summer holidays.
