Jordan Banks: Club memorial planned for boy hit by lightning

Clifton Rangers JFC says it wants to "create something special" for Jordan

A junior football club plans to "create something special" to remember a young player who died after being struck by lightning while training.

Nine-year-old Jordan Banks was taking part in a football coaching session on playing fields in Blackpool on 11 May when he was fatally injured.

His club, Clifton Rangers JFC, have raised more than £12,000 to create a permanent memorial to him.

The plan comes as a fundraising page set up for his family topped £100,000.

Jordan was taken by ambulance to Blackpool Victoria Hospital after he was struck during a thunderstorm at playing fields off Common Edge Road in the resort, but was pronounced dead a short time later.

Clifton Rangers JFC said he was a "shining light and an inspiration to everyone that he met".

A spokesman said the club was raising funds via online donations and the sales of specially-created shirts with his family's blessing "to create a permanent memorial" to Jordan, who was "a champion fundraiser in his own right".

Football shirts with Jordan's name on are being sold and proceeds going to his memorial fund

He added that the hope was to "create something special out of a really tragic incident".

The plan follows a number of tributes to Jordan, both in the town and further afield.

Jordan was a Liverpool fan and the team wore shirts paying tribute to him two days after his death

Liverpool, who he supported, wore shirts with his name on as they warmed up for their match against Manchester United two days after his death, while on Sunday, local league footballers from more than 80 teams held a minute's silence and a convoy of vehicles honoured him along Blackpool Promenade.

Hundreds of people have also left floral tributes as well as footballs and football shirts close to where he was struck.

An inquest into his death opened and adjourned at Blackpool Town Hall on Monday, ahead of a full hearing on 21 July.

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