Saltford Weir death: Walk to remember Aaron Burgess

About 400 people gathered at Saltford weir to remember Aaron Burgess whose body was recovered from the River Avon.

The 14-year-old, from Longwell Green, was swimming near the weir on Tuesday when he got into difficulty and disappeared beneath the surface.

Family and friends walked along the A431 collecting money to pay for life buoys and better signs at the weir.

Aaron's father, Jay Burgess, said: "We're trying to bring awareness to young children about rivers and weirs."

Many of the young people carried flowers to lay at the spot where Aaron's body was recovered.

Mr Burgess thanked Aaron's friends, Jesse, Joe and Connor, for trying to save his son.

"I'm overwhelmed by the love shown to my son," he said.

One of the boys, Connor, said he was "really proud" of the number of people who had turned out.

He said they had all been sliding down a shoot on the weir when Aaron got into difficulty.

"My friend Joe went (down the shoot) then Jesse and then Aaron started drowning and they were trying to help him but he kept pulling them under," he said.

"I shot down the shoot, swam over and found a man with a raft and we both jumped in and as we were getting there it was too late."