Many of you will know Gareth Samples.
He’s the MD of Brief Your Market and ex-managing director of Your Move, a dear friend and one of those rarest of people who is universally liked.
What I’m guessing most of you won’t be aware of is that he tragically lost his son last year in a road accident.
Last week Brief Your Market hosted a golf day and they launched a charity in Luke’s memory with the intention of raising awareness around safer driving for teenagers. Car accidents are the biggest killer of young people ahead of all the normal suspects like cancer and drug dependency.
I’m pretty sure everyone will know of someone who has experienced a tragedy like this and the Samples family is hoping to reach out to youngsters direct to highlight the risks.
It’s a subject that’s close to my heart. As a man known for spectacular feats of stupidity it will surprise no one to hear that I was even worse as a kid. Like many who pass their driving test I was a little giddy and took off down the country lanes eager to test my new-found driving prowess.
Driving far too quickly I lost control and rolled the car. But I was lucky.
Luke and many like him wasn’t and he paid the ultimate price. I had the chance to learn from my stupid mistakes – he never got a second chance.
Like many people at that age, I barely listened to my parents or the police, however I know that if I’d heard first-hand the devastation it’s had on their family then I’d have thought twice about the whole thing.
The charity’s aim is to go into schools and talk about their experiences to raise awareness about this killer of so many of our youth.
As so often happens with terrible events like these, it brings to the forefront the best of people. For an industry that often gets pilloried in the press, often without reason, what has happened is that people have thrown their support behind the event to support Gareth, his family and the charities.
Rick Palmer another legend of the industry and co-founder of Brief Your Market, with his wife Mandy have helped support the foundation wherever they can, putting together the golf day that was supported by the likes of I Am Sold, Van Mildert, David Newnes and his old LSL team, Jon Cooke and the Guild, Legal 4 Landlords, No Letting Go, Manning Stainton and Eric Walker of Northwood to name but a few.
Hats off to Rick and Mandy from everyone that attended and saw the hard work that went into it.
You won’t have known Luke and might not know Gareth, but that’s irrelevant really as we all have teenagers around our families that you’ll care about.
Can I ask that you donate whatever you can to the charity, and if they can help save one life it’ll be worth it.
Remember that it’s not just the young adult that has lost their life but also the ripple effect of devastation on the families and friends as well. Over 500 people attended Luke’s funeral – every one of those people’s lives was changed that day and a little worse for it.
Let’s try and prevent that happening again.
https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/lukesamples
* Simon Whale is sales director of Reapit
My sincere condolescences to Gareth and his family. It’s every parents nightmare.
How many times do yo see flowers around a tree, that has been impacted, when you are driving around. All of these are unnecessary tragedies. I think that most young people don’t realise the consequences of losing control of a vehicle at speed. Unless you are extremely lucky, if you hit a tree, everyone in the car dies….simple as that. The body simply can’t withstand the deceleration g forces involved.
Hats off to Gareth and Brief Your Market for setting up a charity that tries to get this message across to younger people. I hope it saves countless families from facing a similar tragedy.
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I know everyone has an opinion, but why would anyone dislike what is written here? At least lets have a debate about it.
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Well said Simon. A truly heartfelt and thoughtful response from BriefYourMarket, but I wouldn’t expect anything less from Rick, Mandy and Damon.
He will never be forgotten. Let’s hope something good can be found in such a tragedy.
As allways my thoughts are with you and you family Gareth
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No parent should outlive their child Whaley. Great cause and hats off to BYM and Gareth for raising awareness for this great cause.
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When I heard of this, like my most my heart sank. Had the pleasure of working for Gareth some years ago and like Whaley said, he certainly is universally liked by all.
I will gladly support this in any way I can, as always my thoughts are with Gareth and his family.
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