Comfort from lives saved
Sonia Scaife can recall every moment of the harrowing 20 hours she knew her son Michael was missing feared drowned in the Jubilee River.
From the moment at the supermarket checkout when a police officer told her he was missing and the blood curdling scream from telling her daughter, to his friend hugging her and apologising for not being able to save him and sitting on a bridge for four hours above a buoy which indicated where his body was found.
Michael was aged just 20 years old when he and some friends decided to go into the Jubilee River. But one of his friends got into trouble when in the water and Michael saved him and got him to the riverbank before succumbing to the dangers of the cold water himself.
“He died being a hero,” said Sonia, of Langley, who with husband Mark have dedicated the last five years since Michael’s death into educating others about water safety.
“We will never know how many people Michael’s story may save just by changing their minds about going into open bodies of water like the Jubilee River.
“A colleague at the school where I work told me about a year after Michael’s death he was saving lives. Her son had told friends who wanted to go for a swim in a river, about his mum’s friend whose son died and they didn’t go in.
“It made me feel happy in a way, it was comforting, that something positive had come out of Michael’s story.”
The Scaife family is supporting the council’s campaign to warn children and adults about the dangers of the Jubilee River – particularly in hot weather.
The mother-of-four said she would not wish the family’s ordeal on anyone and urged people to stay out of unsupervised water, including the sea.
Michael was a trainee shop manager who was about to become a mentor with The Prince’s Trust when he spent the day with friends on August 2015.
Sonia said: “The first we knew anything was wrong was when we were going through a supermarket checkout after doing the weekly shop. I answered the phone to an unknown number thinking it was one of my childminding parents, but it was a police officer telling me Michael was missing.
“We went to the river near The Myrke and as we arrived Michael’s friends were being taken away by the emergency services. His friend said ‘That’s Michael’s mum’ and came over and hugged me and said ‘sorry, I couldn’t save him’.
“Mark, my brothers, and other family members then spent the night walking along the riverbanks shouting his name hoping he had been swept downstream and had managed to get out and was on the bank somewhere. We were up again at first light doing the same.
“Eventually, I went and sat on the bridge, which is now named after Michael. His body was located under the bridge, about fifteen minutes after his sister arrived on the Saturday afternoon, and they placed a buoy there until the specialist divers could arrive and recover him. I stayed there until that happened.”
She also recalled the horrific moment she told her daughter Charlotte, who is just over a year younger than Michael, he was missing and said she will never forget the scream she let out, or telling her mother-in-law her grandson was gone.
Michael’s dad Mark continues to raise money for water safety initiatives and is currently in the middle of walking to the 21 Vanarama National League South away grounds, starting and ending his journey at Slough Town FC’s home ground, Arbour Park. All the money will be donated to the RNLI’s water education programme. To support Mark click here www.justgiving.com/fundraising/mark-scaife2.
The bridge has also become a Pokemon GO stop, a game Michael loved to play, which educates about the dangers of the water every time the stop is activated.
Cllr Natasa Pantelic, cabinet member for health and wellbeing, thanked the Scaife family for sharing their story in a bid to try and prevent another tragedy and urged parents to talk to children about the dangers of open water.
She said: “We don’t want anyone else to suffer the pain the families who have lost someone in the Jubilee River have. We just want people to stay out of the water.
“It is a man-made river where the sides are very steep and the water is deep and very cold, even on the hottest days, which can lead to people going into cold water shock and trouble, very quickly.”
Three years after Michael’s death two young men died within just weeks of each other in the Jubilee River, 17-year-old Dajarn’s Daly, of Wexham, and 22-year-old Nayeeb Ullah Naizai . The inquests ruled all three men’s death were accidental.
Since the deaths the Environment Agency has placed additional warning signs either side of the river warning people to stay out.
On average more than two people die every day and more than 700 drown every year in the UK and Ireland according to the Royal Life Saving Society UK.
Of the deaths 52 per cent of accidental drownings happen in open water with 80 per cent being male. A third of deaths happen in the summer with the highest proportion of drownings occurring in people who are aged between 20 and 29 years old.
The advice is to stop, think and look for the dangers and always take heed of nearby warning signs. In an emergency others should call 999 and those in the water are encouraged to float on your back or someone should throw in an object which is buoyant. It is also important that safety devices are left in their rightful place along the river bank and not vandalised for when they are actually needed.
From the moment at the supermarket checkout when a police officer told her he was missing and the blood curdling scream from telling her daughter, to his friend hugging her and apologising for not being able to save him and sitting on a bridge for four hours above a buoy which indicated where his body was found.
Michael was aged just 20 years old when he and some friends decided to go into the Jubilee River. But one of his friends got into trouble when in the water and Michael saved him and got him to the riverbank before succumbing to the dangers of the cold water himself.
“He died being a hero,” said Sonia, of Langley, who with husband Mark have dedicated the last five years since Michael’s death into educating others about water safety.
“We will never know how many people Michael’s story may save just by changing their minds about going into open bodies of water like the Jubilee River.
“A colleague at the school where I work told me about a year after Michael’s death he was saving lives. Her son had told friends who wanted to go for a swim in a river, about his mum’s friend whose son died and they didn’t go in.
“It made me feel happy in a way, it was comforting, that something positive had come out of Michael’s story.”
The Scaife family is supporting the council’s campaign to warn children and adults about the dangers of the Jubilee River – particularly in hot weather.
The mother-of-four said she would not wish the family’s ordeal on anyone and urged people to stay out of unsupervised water, including the sea.
Michael was a trainee shop manager who was about to become a mentor with The Prince’s Trust when he spent the day with friends on August 2015.
Sonia said: “The first we knew anything was wrong was when we were going through a supermarket checkout after doing the weekly shop. I answered the phone to an unknown number thinking it was one of my childminding parents, but it was a police officer telling me Michael was missing.
“We went to the river near The Myrke and as we arrived Michael’s friends were being taken away by the emergency services. His friend said ‘That’s Michael’s mum’ and came over and hugged me and said ‘sorry, I couldn’t save him’.
“Mark, my brothers, and other family members then spent the night walking along the riverbanks shouting his name hoping he had been swept downstream and had managed to get out and was on the bank somewhere. We were up again at first light doing the same.
“Eventually, I went and sat on the bridge, which is now named after Michael. His body was located under the bridge, about fifteen minutes after his sister arrived on the Saturday afternoon, and they placed a buoy there until the specialist divers could arrive and recover him. I stayed there until that happened.”
She also recalled the horrific moment she told her daughter Charlotte, who is just over a year younger than Michael, he was missing and said she will never forget the scream she let out, or telling her mother-in-law her grandson was gone.
Michael’s dad Mark continues to raise money for water safety initiatives and is currently in the middle of walking to the 21 Vanarama National League South away grounds, starting and ending his journey at Slough Town FC’s home ground, Arbour Park. All the money will be donated to the RNLI’s water education programme. To support Mark click here www.justgiving.com/fundraising/mark-scaife2.
The bridge has also become a Pokemon GO stop, a game Michael loved to play, which educates about the dangers of the water every time the stop is activated.
Cllr Natasa Pantelic, cabinet member for health and wellbeing, thanked the Scaife family for sharing their story in a bid to try and prevent another tragedy and urged parents to talk to children about the dangers of open water.
She said: “We don’t want anyone else to suffer the pain the families who have lost someone in the Jubilee River have. We just want people to stay out of the water.
“It is a man-made river where the sides are very steep and the water is deep and very cold, even on the hottest days, which can lead to people going into cold water shock and trouble, very quickly.”
Three years after Michael’s death two young men died within just weeks of each other in the Jubilee River, 17-year-old Dajarn’s Daly, of Wexham, and 22-year-old Nayeeb Ullah Naizai . The inquests ruled all three men’s death were accidental.
Since the deaths the Environment Agency has placed additional warning signs either side of the river warning people to stay out.
On average more than two people die every day and more than 700 drown every year in the UK and Ireland according to the Royal Life Saving Society UK.
Of the deaths 52 per cent of accidental drownings happen in open water with 80 per cent being male. A third of deaths happen in the summer with the highest proportion of drownings occurring in people who are aged between 20 and 29 years old.
The advice is to stop, think and look for the dangers and always take heed of nearby warning signs. In an emergency others should call 999 and those in the water are encouraged to float on your back or someone should throw in an object which is buoyant. It is also important that safety devices are left in their rightful place along the river bank and not vandalised for when they are actually needed.
