Kingshurst community pulls together amid lake deaths

Christmas lights twinkling on one side, blue police tape on the other. The lake in between the scene of utter devastation just weeks before Christmas.

Three boys aged eight, 10 and 11 were playing on the icy water at the beauty spot near Solihull in the West Midlands on Sunday afternoon when they fell in.

Heroic actions from the public and emergency services - they raced down on foot and jumped into the freezing water, and one police officer tried to punch through the ice - were sadly not enough.

After being pulled from Babbs Mills Lake, the children later died. A fourth boy, aged six, died days later in hospital.

But what has become apparent in the midst of this tragedy is a tight-knit community pulling together to help one another.

About nine miles to the east of Birmingham, Kingshurst is an area that has faced hardship - financial and food insecurities have been cited by some - but at the heart of it is a thriving community spirit, with families from as many as five generations living here.

Heartwarming tales have emerged of centres, churches and the local scout hut opening their doors and residents offering food and hot drinks to the emergency services as they worked into the night searching the water.

Mother-of-four Comfort Konfor said she had found out what had happened late on Sunday night via her children's school, and was at the Connection Church Centre in Kingshurst on Monday.

New to the area, she praised the local community for coming together.

"It's a very wonderful community. People are lovely, they are friendly," she said.

"Here, it's not been empty since, people are walking in and out. Everybody is concerned and taking it personally and taking ownership of the whole thing."

Talking about the tragedy, she added: "It's a sickening situation. The moment I heard of it I got dizzy, almost fainting because the first thing that came to mind was 'they could be my children'. It's a big shock.

"I couldn't sleep last night. I'm trying to put myself in the shoes of the parents, what must they be going through right now?

"It's really a sad situation. Was it foreseeable, could it have been avoided? How many children have gone, just like that? Something could be done to stop this happening again in future."

Church Pastor Emil Kerekes was quick to open their doors to the community on Sunday.

He said: "It was a heavy atmosphere [on Sunday night]. Everyone was shocked to hear what was happening. Knowing there were some children involved you can imagine the feeling.

"I woke up and thought 'why not open the church for the community' and if they want to come and have a chat about what's happening, have a drink and be a support for them. People are feeling down and want to talk to somebody.

"We need each other and we need to stand up for each other."

Dozens of local people, including many schoolchildren, placed bunches of flowers and balloons in tribute to the three boys at the base of a tree near the northern entrance to Babbs Mill nature park.

Mother-of-four Katie O'Driscoll, who was accompanied by her five-year-old daughter, said: "Anyone that has got kids can really relate to that; we feel heartbroken as a community. The whole community cares - they will be kids that we know because we are a close-knit community.

"It's affected everybody. It's devastating and it's sad."

Amie Hopkins was also at the church offering support to those who needed it.

She said: "I've got a 12-year-old boy myself that probably would have done something similar as well. It really hits home when you hear they're children of similar ages to your own that have lost their lives so close to Christmas as well.

"It's a tragic loss to the community and something you wouldn't expect to happen from children having some harmless fun.

"It's heartbreaking, the loss of such young children from the community and in such a tragic way."

Jo Cole has lived in Kingshurt for 27 years and has run projects in the area to raise awareness of some of the issues it is facing, such as food insecurity and financial insecurity.

Speaking to BBC Radio WM, she said: "One of the marvellous things about Kingshurst is that it's so tight as a community. We have got quite a lot of difficulties around us that we're dealing with.

"We're sending out all our love as a community. We pull together and we work together. We're a good bunch over here."

Borough councillor for Kingshurst Marcus Brain said the whole community was in "absolute shock" and devastated.

"It's going to take a long time to sink in. We are all in a complete state of shock," he said.

He described Kingshurst as a very close-knit community where everyone knew everybody and with families who had been there for five generations.

He added: "The local community has rallied around amazingly and supported the emergency services as best they can."

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