Grieving mother says bike track gives her purpose

Davinia Walsh said Dylan's Bike Track would be somewhere for young people to feel "protected and safe"

The mother of a 16-year-old boy who was fatally stabbed said working to reopen a bike track in his honour had given her "something to get up for in the morning".

Dylan Holliday died after he was stabbed 13 times near an underpass behind the track in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, on 5 August 2021.

Davinia Walsh said that the project to revive Queensway Motorbike Track had helped her grieve her son.

She hoped the renamed Dylan's Bike Track (DBT) could be open by the summer and be used to help "get the kids off the streets and give them a safe zone away from gangs".

Ms Walsh said Dylan was "passionate" about bikes and the project was a fitting tribute to him

Ms Walsh said the track would be run by Together Connect NN, a community interest company formed by Dylan's family and the community.

The track would be used for motorbikes, bicycles, quads and "anything that goes".

She hoped the space would be added to over the years and said there were plans for a nature area and an allotment for children to grow their own food.

"[It is] just somewhere nice for families to go; it doesn't have to be all about bikes," she said.

Volunteers have spent months clearing the site of brambles and foliage

"Dylan would have loved [the track], that's why it's so important for me to get it up and running. He would have been all over this like a rash.

"We might have had a lot more supporters if Dylan was still here, as he would just badger people.

"I feel emotional. I know he would be proud of how much graft and hard work we've put into this.

"We're just mums. We need to do something; just make a change.

"This has helped me in the grieving process. It's given me something to get up for in the morning."

The Reverend Ben Lewis wants the bike track to be a "really positive place"

The Reverend Ben Lewis, the vicar of St Mark's Church on the Queensway estate in Wellingborough, said: "I think people are really pleased that after an event that was so tragic, that some good is coming from it, it's bringing something back to young people.

"It's going to be a great asset, a place of meeting, a place of learning - pursuing their interests and skills on their bikes."

He said the community needed to "care" about young people and "build relationships and show them alternatives to crime and anti-social behaviour".

David James used to come to the track in the 1990s before it was closed

David James, a bike enthusiast from Wellingborough, said: "It's a beautiful thing to come up and support. It's just good for the community; [young people have] got somewhere safe to come."

He said he believed the track would make a "huge" difference to the lives of young people, as there was not a lot for them to do in the area and it would reassure parents that they had somewhere to go.

Together Connect NN said it would continue to fundraise to get the track open as soon as possible.