Latest news with #RCPrimarySchool
ITV News
18-05-2025
- ITV News
Girl, 9, killed by speeding driver in Halifax 'was sacrificed to prove need for speed cameras'
V ideo report by Katie Oscroft. The parents of a nine-year-old girl who was killed by a dangerous driver in Halifax believe their daughter's death enabled speed cameras to be installed where it happened. Alice Williams was knocked down by a speeding motorist who drove through a red light on King Cross Road in July 2023. Dashcam footage shows Qadeer Hussain driving almost 20mph over the limit in the outside lane and ignoring a red light. Speed cameras have since been put up to monitor drivers as they approach the crossing. Her mother Clare O'Neill said: "I do feel that Alice was sacrificed, to get the proof that those cameras were needed. And that doesn't feel good. "The cameras were massively needed, it's a school crossing, a park on one side and the school on the other. Drivers would ramp up their speed to get on to the flyover." Alice was crossing the road with Ms O'Neill and brother Joseph, then aged six, to go to the summer fair at St Mary's RC Primary School where she was a pupil. Qadeer Hussain, 55 of Essex Street, Halifax pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving and was sentenced to eight years and four months in prison. Ms O'Neill said she believed her daughter had to die to get the cameras installed. She said: "They just appeared, we didn't have to do any campaigning. I know it's because of Alice. "She was the light of our lives. She was my little best friend. She was so affectionate, always telling you she loved you. This feels like a nightmare we can't wake up from." Alice's family have raised money for the road safety charity RoadPeace which helped them in the aftermath of the incident. Her father Chris Williams said: "We don't want anyone else to go through what we have so we will do anything to help the charity to repay them for the support they gave to us." Lucy Harrison, Justice and Outreach Manager for RoadPeace said: "This was a dangerous driver and no amount of changes would necessarily have stopped him from driving in that despicable way. "But we shouldn't be waiting for tragedies to occur before we take action. We need funding putting into road policing and we need greater enforcement." Ms O'Neill is now urging people to use dashcams in cars and to report near misses. She said: "Dashcam evidence in this case made all the difference, we've since reported people for going through red lights. Three of them have received warnings and that's important, they need to know they're not invisible and can be held accountable. "The man who killed Alice had a clean driving licence so he knew how to behave around cameras so if he knew he was being filmed then he wouldn't have done what he did. " A Department for Transport spokesperson said: "This is a tragic incident and our thoughts remain with Alice's friends and family. There's no excuse for those who risk the lives of others through speeding, which is why we are developing a new Road Safety Strategy, the first in over a decade, to ensure the UK's roads remain the safest in the world, and recently relaunched our THINK Campaign with a focus on speeding." Cllr Tim Swift, Calderdale Council's Cabinet Member for Public Health, said: 'We are deeply saddened by Alice's death, and offer our heartfelt sympathy to her family and friends who lost their loved one in such tragic circumstances. "One life lost on our roads is one too many. We all want safer roads and as a Council we take our responsibility to prevent people being injured on our roads incredibly seriously. "On King Cross Street we have installed speed and red light cameras. We're proud to be part of the West Yorkshire Vision Zero partnership, helping to deliver this important regional plan to eradicate all road deaths and serious injuries across West Yorkshire by 2040."
BBC News
19-03-2025
- General
- BBC News
Bolton dinner lady retires after 54 years at same school
A much-loved dinner lady has hung up her apron after 54 Hewlett, from Bolton, said goodbye to the children at St Thomas of Canterbury RC Primary School on Friday after more than five decades in the said she was now looking forward to booking a holiday with her husband."We can go now whenever we want, in the past we had to go when it was school holidays," she said. Mrs Hewlett worked with four generations of children, parents and even grandparents during her time at the school."I just loved being with the children and I did like all the staff. I just loved the job," she well as making lunchtime go smoothly, she was known for being particularly kind with the younger pupils."They would tell me about their family and how they were doing at school and what lessons they were having. It was quite interesting really," she said former pupils regularly came to speak to her while she was out and about. "I'll be in town and I'll see one or two girls or boys, and they'll shout, 'Hi Mrs Hewlette'. But you do forget who they are because they've grown up, of course," she said. Mrs Hewlett said the children gave her "lovely send off" on Friday, and she promised to come back and visit. "All the children from all the classes, 420 children, lined the corridors and each class came up with a card they'd made themselves," she said."So I got loads and loads of lovely handmade cards."Assistant head teacher Sean Barrett said the importance of Mrs Hewlett's role at the school should not be Barrett said her warmth and her smile radiated through the work that she did."We can't underplay the importance of Brenda's work at the school," he said."We hear a lot about teachers and the impact they have but schools don't run if its not for people like Brenda and the work they put in." Listen to the best of BBC Radio Manchester on Sounds and follow BBC Manchester on Facebook, X, and Instagram and watch BBC North West Tonight on BBC iPlayer.
