7:00am Saturday 11th October 2008
HUNDREDS of residents from a New Forest community paid their last respects to a schoolboy who died in collision with a car in the centre of his home village.
Cricket-loving Aarron Keeping, pictured, died in the collision at a notorious accident blackspot in Bransgore.
During the service vicar the Reverend Peter Rickman added his voice to those expressing of the road’s safety.
He told the congregation in the packed All Saints’ Church, Thorney Hill, that questions should be asked after 12-year-old Aarron’s death.
He added: “Maybe it’s time for us to rise up as a community together and tackle this issue head-on.”
Bransgore and Thorney Hill came to a standstill as Aarron’s coffin was carried on a white, horse-drawn carriage to the cricket ground before being brought back to All Saints’ Church. Four pall bearers shouldered the coffin and carried it to the church with Aarron’s parents, Freda and Martin, family and friends behind.
There were tributes from Peter Pretlove, head teacher at Bransgore Primary School, who said he was proud to count Aarron as a friend, and Ringwood School head teacher Christine Edwards, who said he had touched the hearts of many during his short time at the comprehensive.
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