The mother of a 19-year-old killed after his car hit a road sign just before Christmas says her son “would have loved every bit” of a party held in his memory on Friday.
The mother of a 19-year-old killed after his car hit a road sign just before Christmas says her son “would have loved every bit” of a party held in his memory on Friday.
Bryce Donovan died after his black Suzuki Swift hit a road sign on Lytton Way in Stevenage, opposite the town’s police station, shortly after midnight on December 14.
His girlfriend, 17-year-old Sarah Hester, was a passenger in the car and was taken to Addenbrooke’s Hopsital in Cambridge with serious injuries to her pelvis.
Bryce, a former pupil at the Da Vinci Studio School in Stevenage and North Hertfordshire College, worked as a mechanic at Kwik Fit on Bedford Road in Hitchin but had been intending to forge a career in the British Army once a problem with his knees had been corrected.
His mum, Trayc, said: “He was unique - one of a kind. He set out to make everybody around him proud and that’s exactly what he did do. He didn’t even have to try.
“He was bullied at school when he was younger and it was a turning point for him. It made him realise he could turn his hand to anything.
“He had so many different sets of friends, and was never one to come home and say he had fallen out with someone. Rarely was he unhappy.”
Bryce, who was the youngest of four, was a keen fan of motocross and other motor sports and frequently posted pictures related to them on his Facebook page.
He also enjoyed scuba diving and dancing. “If there was music, Bryce would dance,” his mum said.
On Friday, 460 of his family and friends attended a memorial party at the Ibis hotel in Stevenage town centre. Trayc said: “It was amazing. His friend Connor, who organised it, did an amazing job. Bryce would have loved every bit of it. There was a DJ and two bands, candy floss and popcorn machines and a bouncy castle.”
There were many donations from businesses for the event, including use of the function room at the Ibis and £500 from Ocado for food.
Trayc intends to set up a charity in memory of her son in due course. “I can’t just do nothing,” she said.
Bryce was a member of car enthusiast group Cruise-Herts and on Saturday night members will gather to remember him on the Roaring Meg Retail Park in Stevenage, with more than 300 people already confirmed as attending.
Trayc said: “He’s been a joy to a lot of people and he’s left a big hole. He’s gone but he will never be forgotten.”
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