A mum from Wigan whose son drowned in the same flooded quarry where a teenager tragically died earlier this month has made a heart-breaking plea for people to stay away. Ann Croston's 17-year-old son Craig drowned in the water filled East Quarry in Appley Bridge on September 26, 1999, after going swimming there with friends.
Ann spoke to LancsLive after returning from laying flowers on his grave. The fun loving teen was the first to die in the quarry in 1999 - but his death was tragically followed by that of 13-year-old Miracle Godson, a promising young rugby player, who drowned there in 2015.
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On July 9 this 16-year-old Jamie Lewin, from Southport, was pronounced dead at the same site after getting into difficulty in the water. Ann told how the horrendous news and brought memories of her tragic loss came flooding back. The 62-year-old said: "My stomach just turned - it happens every time as it brings it all back, you just think what are those parents going through; it's every parent's worst nightmare."
Describing how the horrendous day of Craig's death unfolded, she said: "It was a Sunday morning on the 26th of September and he went out with all his friends, and they went to this quarry. Apparently, Craig jumped off one of the ledges, swam the full length of the quarry and got to the other side.
"He climbed up the hill to go back and jumped into the water again, and when he got halfway across, friends said they could see there was something happening, and then he just disappeared from sight." She was alerted of her son's disappearance by a phone call, and rushed straight down with family members to the quarry, to find police divers and specialist search teams looking for her son.
Ann, of Platt Bridge, said: "A policeman said to me, it wasn't looking good, they had had a report of a young boy being in the water and then going under and he hadn't reappeared. Obviously I was hysterical.
"I tried to run down past the police to the water and they wouldn't let me, they were telling me to calm down. I started having panic attacks after about an hour so a family member brought me back home and called the doctor.
"Within about half an hour of me returning home, we got the phone call to say that they had found him, and they took him to Ormskirk Hospital. I was just devastated; they had to get a doctor to prescribe me tablets to calm me down, but I ended up not taking them because I wanted to know where my son was.
"I never slept; I stayed awake all night and the next day his uncle had to go and identify his body because the doctor said I was in no fit state to. I never slept for about two days. Craig had one older brother and three sisters, one of whom was pregnant at the time. I could not even tell them, and his sister who was pregnant ended up going into premature labour with the stress of it all."
Yet the family were to be hit with double tragedy in 2020, when Craig's nephew, Kyle Croston died in a motorbike accident, aged 18, in Ince, Wigan in August 2020. The tragic pair of teens, who never knew each other, are now buried together in the same grave which Ann visited on Sunday.
Paying tribute to her 'brilliant' son, Ann told Lancs Live: "He was a brilliant lad - he was a good dancer and he was so full of life; he was always running around the estate here. He was so popular and he had lots of friends - there were about 500 people at his funeral, if not more.
"I was just devastated - I have never got over it. You don't expect your own children to go before you - you don't expect to bury your own child."
A spokesperson for Lancashire County Council said regarding the tragedy of last week: "This is a terribly tragic incident and our thoughts go out to the boy's family at this really difficult time. Through our schools we support Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service's campaign on water safety, which highlights the need to stay safe around open water, and would urge people to follow the advice especially as the weather remains warm.
A spokesperson for Maybrook Investments Ltd, which owns East Quarry in Appley Bridge, urged people to stay away, saying: "The owners and staff at Maybrook are deeply saddened at the tragic death at East Quarry on 9th July 2022 and would like to pass their condolences to his family and friends.
"Our team has been maintaining the perimeter fencing and working with the emergency services to discourage young people from entering the site. Despite the tragedy of the weekend there are still groups of youths attempting to access the quarry. We appeal directly to them: please stay away and stay safe."
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