A YEAR and five months have passed since 10-year-old Jamie Brooks drowned as he hunted for tadpoles in an old mill lodge.

But his mum says the pain and the heartbreak is as acute today as it was on the day the dreadful truth dawned that she would never see her "young adventurer" again.

Carol Brooks of Myrrh Street, Astley Bridge, has four other children to occupy her thoughts and her daily life. But she says the nightmare of losing Jamie will never leave her.

The grieving mother is just one Bolton parent who is backing the Evening News campaign urging the authorities to fill-in Bolton's disused mill lodges and rubbish-strewn ponds.

The angry father of a 10-year-old who drowned in a canal during last year's Easter holidays is also joining the campaign claiming that lessons have not been learned following the death of his son. The parents have pleaded with the Evening News: "Help end our agony and prevent any more children from drowning."

The BEN launched the campaign this week in the wake of the tragic death of eight-year-old Jaffer Javid last weekend in privately-owned Blackshaw Lodge, Deane.

For the full report and more background information visit our special Lodge Watch site on the left link