‘Moving’ memorial service to remember those who've died on the roads in Yorkshire

Yorkshire Post

SCARD Oakleaf Memorial Service held at Leeds Minster hosted by Christine Talbot.

Transcript

00:00Back in January 1992, so we're now looking at 32 years ago, sometimes it just feels like yesterday

00:09and sometimes it feels like a million years ago, and he decided he found SCAR. Tell me what SCAR

00:17stands for? SCAR is Support and Care After Road Death and Injury, and we decided that because

00:25we'd learned so much in doing research after her son was killed, bear in mind

00:32there was no social media, there was no internet as such, and there was no support for us. Nothing.

00:39You got the knock on the door to tell you that your son was dead and you had to go to the street

00:44to identify him and that was it. You were just cast aside basically. So, and obviously we had

00:52to learn quite a lot language-wise from the police. They were saying things like

00:57the crown prosecution was mentioned and the coroner, we had no idea what a coroner was,

01:04anything like that. So we had to do quite a lot of research to find out what everything was all

01:08about and once we'd done that and it had been to court and the driver had actually been sent to

01:17prison, we thought we need to share this information that we've learned over those

01:24months so that anybody else who finds themselves in a similar situation, we can say well this is

01:31what you do or this is how that works. So that's how it all started and it was just a helpline in

01:38my house. That's how it started. A helpline has grown to a much bigger organisation now and you

01:44work alongside the Campaign Against Drink Driving as well, don't you? That's right. But

01:49what happens at this service every year and why is it so important? Well, when we organised the first

01:54one, we were thinking just a one-off, you know, get the victims together, let them chat with each

02:00other etc and it was just going to be a one-off. But now, 31 years later, we're still having it.

02:10The beauty of it is now we've got the format perfect just about, you know, with all the

02:14experience over the years. But it means so much and there's people I've been talking to today

02:20in this church who have been coming here all the time that we have had the service. There's a lady

02:27just behind us that's been coming for an awful long time but they still want to come every year

02:34just to get that extra support, if you like. Yeah, you know, there's a very poignant part of

02:40the service where the families take an oak leaf, a paper oak leaf, up to the altar with the name of

02:46their loved one on it. What's the symbolic significance of the oak leaf? Well, you've

02:52probably noticed we get quite a lot of civics from the various areas around West Yorkshire

02:58and these are people who can make decisions and make things safer out on the roads.

03:04So my thought was, if we can get the name tried out, and in particular the ages of the people,

03:11it may make an extra impression on those civics that are sat there, the councillors making their

03:17decisions, that they may just think, hang on a minute, I went to a service about that. Yeah,

03:22we really need to start looking at making our roads safe. So that was the thinking behind it.

03:28But it is very moving when that happens. Why did you choose the oak leaf? What's the reason behind

03:33that? The reason for the oak leaf is really, the oak leaf is a sign of rebirth. You know,

03:40that the leaves drop but you get the acorns and the acorns we give out. I've got one in my pocket

03:48just at the end of the service. We give out an oak leaf, an acorn. Yes, yeah, that's lovely. We

03:55give out. Yes. And yeah, I plant mine. I plant them when I get, well tomorrow, not in the dark,

04:02but tomorrow I will be planting that oak leaf, that acorn, and hopefully we'll get an oak tree

04:09from it eventually. So it's a sign of rebirth, a symbolic. It is, it is. That's what the acorn is,

04:15it's rebirth, isn't it? So whilst acknowledging what's happened, which is so important,

04:23we also need to try and put across to people attending that there is a life to be had.

04:29Might be a different life, but it's a life and you can carry on, you can carry on.

04:37Carol, congratulations on all you've done to help other people after what happened to you all those

04:42years ago when you lost your own son and thank you very much and once again. Thank you for asking,

04:48Christine, thank you. Why do you come to this service every year? Well, someone mentioned it

04:54to me when I lost my son and he says you'll benefit from coming because you meet other people

05:00who've been in the same situation as you. So I came, all my family came, we all came, mum, dad,

05:08which I've lost now, both my parents, but we all came and enjoyed the service, met Carol

05:15and everything. We just come because we enjoy it and we see, meet other people in the same

05:20situation. What happened in your situation? He got knocked down. What was his name? Jermaine,

05:26Jermaine Jeffers. And how old was he? He was 25 when he got knocked down here on York Road.

05:32Gosh, when was this? 2003, September the 13th, 2003, yeah. So coming here and meeting other

05:42people you've been through and I guess unless it's happened to you, it's very hard to understand

05:47exactly. Yeah, it was hard, but coming here you meet other people who's been in the same

05:55situation as you and you see them year after year, you know, people, and so you get to talk to them

06:02and it's a bit of comfort. What does it feel like when you go to the altar holding the oak

06:08wreath with Jermaine's name on it? It's emotional, very emotional. I was tearing up a little bit

06:14today, but all that comes out because he was funny, he was so funny. He likes to chat, he used

06:21to like to mess about with me as well, you know, I mean his mum, yeah. He was a good one, he was a

06:26good one, so it is sad. Well, Vanessa, thanks for talking to me today. Oh, thank you. And telling

06:32me all about why this means so much to you. Yeah, thank you, nice meeting you as well.

06:44Bye.

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