Exclusive:'Rother Valley’s been a worry' says dad of drowned teen who spent years raising awareness of open water danger

A dad has described the death of a teenager at Rother Valley as “disheartening” after he spent the past five years teaching about safety in open water following his own son’s passing.

On Thursday, May 28, the family of Sam Haycock will be mourning the young boy on the fifth anniversary of his death.

In 2021, Sam, aged 16, entered the waters of Ulley Reservoir in Rotherham while celebrating finishing school with his friends.

Tragically, he drowned.

As family prepare for the anniversary, they have been shocked by the news that another teenage boy was found dead in the waters of Rother Valley Country Park on Bank Holiday Monday (May 25).

“My heart goes out to this family,” Sam’s dad, Simon, told The Star.

“I know exactly where they are and what they’re going through at this moment in time and it fetches [those] emotions back.”

Since Sam’s death, Simon has been working hard to raise awareness around the dangers of open water swimming with his group Sam’s Army.

Working alongside the fire service, he has visited local schools and colleges to teach kids in the hopes of making sure what happened to Sam never happens again.

He described this latest death as “horrendous” as he sets out plans to work with Rother Valley to improve safety.

He added: “There’s always more that can be done, and I’m pushing them to make changes.

“Rother Valley’s been a worry of mine for a while, just the sheer amount of people who come and visit it.

“I’ve already put in place and made meetings to try and combat it, but ultimately I’m just a parent from a small organisation and it’s getting the right people behind us to back what we’re trying to do and getting the right people to make the choices.

“Ultimately, sadly, a lot of these things come down to money and funding for staff and things like that.

“But at some point we’ve got to look at what the safety aspects are and risk assessments.”

Police said that the teenager headed into the waters of the popular nature park but was not seen to come out again.

A massive search took place at around 7pm last night, with fire engines, ambulances and a helicopter all deployed to help.

Tragically, in the early hours of the morning a body was found.

It’s not the only death of this kind over the Bank Holiday weekend, with a 13-year-old boy having died at Leadbeater Dam, Halifax on Monday, while another boy, 15, died at Swanholme Lakes in Lincoln on Sunday (May 24).

“I know that everybody that I work with in the fire brigade and with RNLI (Royal National Lifeboat Institution) try their hardest, but you’re up against it when you get hot weather like this and people are attracted to open water to cool down and have fun,” Simon said.

“We accept that, but they’re not understanding or respecting the dangers of open water.

“Sadly this week it’s been a bad week because there’s been a few people who’ve lost their lives in just the Yorkshire area alone.

“It’s really sad, it’s really disheartening.”

Simon is planning on running a fundraising event at Clifton Park on Saturday (May 30), to continue raising awareness about safety while gathering funds to acquire life-saving equipment.

The event will feature a classic car show, with stalls and emergency services present who will be showing how their teams operate.

Simon added: “Over the last five years I’ve been involved with other families that have gone through exactly the same thing and you know, I’m sure everybody will say the same thing - it’s such a preventable thing, it’s so needles that these young people are losing their lives like Sam.

“Thrill-seeking and going and having fun with their friends, it seems so innocent - they’re not breaking laws, they’re not doing anything wrong, but it’s just really really sad.”