When teenager Cameron Lancaster decided to take part in the internet craze of summer 2014 it ended in tragedy.
As a different twist on the ‘ice bucket challenge’ – which involved having ice-cold water poured over participant’s heads - the18-year-old jumped from cliffs into water in an abandoned quarry near his home.
But a sudden gust of wind caught him and he landed awkwardly in the water, breaking his neck. He lost consciousness and drowned instantly.
Now his mother Gillian Barclay devotes time to visiting secondary schools to raise awareness of water safety in the hope it prevents another family suffering a similar devastation.
“He decided he wanted to do his ice bucket challenge and he decided he wanted to do it with a big splash." she said. “He went to the quarry to jump in – it is about 60ft, and it was all filmed by his best friend.
“Unfortunately the wind caught him half way down and he hit the water at just a bad angle and broke his neck, so he drowned instantly as he was unconscious.
“He had done it before, and lots of his friends had done it – it was almost a rite of passage.”
When another teenager later drowned at the same quarry, Barclay, 53, from Dalgety Bay in Fife, said she felt she couldn’t “sit back and do nothing”.
She became involved in a programme to teach secondary school pupils the risks involved in going into the water, by telling them of her own family’s experience.
“Having me in person at the front of the stage, standing in front of a picture of Cameron in his high school uniform – I hope leaves a memory to think about when they muck about near water,” she said.
“I have also been helping campaign with Water Safety Scotland to try to get water safety in the national curriculum.
“Cameron was a really good swimmer, but I think it is not understanding the danger of your environment which is more important.”
She added: “Nothing is ever going to be the same – all the family things we have are really tinged by his not being there. You just live day to day thinking he should be here, he should be part of all of this but he is not.
“Losing a child is the most horrendous thing anyone could suffer – you just don’t want other people to go through this.”
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