Family who lost son to drowning calling for better water safety education amid heatwave
It's as an amber health alert has been issued today for the West Midlands.
A West Midlands family are calling for more enhanced water safety measures in memory of their son who tragically drowned last summer.
Joshua Hillstead, 8, from Maypole in Birmingham, died after falling into the River Arrow in Warwickshire last year.
Joshua's mum, Rebecca Hinde has been remembering her son and shared what the past year has been like for herself and the family.
Ms Hinde said: "He was beautiful, he was just such a lovely boy. He had such a wonderful manner about him and he had a heart of gold.
"I am so proud that I got to be his mum."
Ms Hinde continued: "The past year without him has been extremely hard, there's no other way of putting it.
"Without him being here there's just a massive gap, you notice it in everything that he's not here with us anymore and it's so sad.
"As hard as it's been, we have had a lot of moments of joy too when we think of him and we talk about him.
"We remember the good times and the happy times because I know he wouldn't want us to be sad."
Ms Hinde, alongside other members of the family, has since set up the Joshua Hillstead Foundation to help raise awareness on water safety, officially launching at a fun day event in Worcestershire last month.
Rebecca said: "The charity will help to keep Joshua's memory alive and will help to save lives in the future.
"My son didn't know how to stay safe around open water and you look back in hindsight and think, why don't we know this already?
"We have a lot of outdoor waterways and it's so important to be able to educate children on it, so they don't face the same devastation we faced.
"We think that it can be easily addressed in schools and quite recently water safety has become part of the curriculum and that's a huge win for us.
"Water doesn't care, so we should care and that's why we want to spread awareness on water safety in memory of Joshua."
An amber health alert is in place today across the region, with advice from families like Josh's and authorities to not get into water without proper education on how to stay safe.