Forever 26 Trust

It is a sad fact that in many areas of life, perception differs greatly from reality!

This is particularly so when it comes to hotels and holiday resorts around the globe with guest access to open waters, and most particularly with young adults and families with children where the full range of facilities on offer are embraced with enthusiasm by one and all.

Typically the daily room rate is high due to the access to pearly white beaches and unspoiled reefs just waiting to be explored, and because of this, one and all automatically associate the expensive holiday with the full provision of services; including the abdication of all aspects of our health and safety to the hotel or resort who themselves are enjoying the rewards of our hard earned cash.

And therein lies the problem; in countless such hotels and resorts around the world, health and safety measures for their guests is minimal to nonexistent, and we should know, as we lost our eldest daughter Rebecca on a pearly white beach at the end of November last year in an incident that was totally and utterly preventable.

Even sadder than this is the fact that Becky is not the first person to die this way, but we seek to ensure that she is the last. The Forever 26 Trust has been formally established to try and prevent any other family ever having to bring their child home the way that we had to bring our Becky!

On the 8th of May 2008, The Forever 26 Deed of Trust was formally signed by the founding trustee’s who are Heather Richards, Becky’s mother, Mark Crawley, Becky's father and John Smart.

John is a long-standing family friend, a maritime engineer who continues to work extensively in the maritime field internationally, and is the father of Ben Smart who along with Olivia Hope disappeared in the Marlborough Sounds a decade ago.

Heather, John and I fully support the aims and goals of the Forever 26 Trust which include:

• The mandatory requirement for propeller guards on all inshore craft owned and operated by commercial operations where the craft may operate near their own guests
• The mandatory requirement for minimum international standard boom-buoy systems to ensure the same inshore craft of commercial operations can never encroach into approved guest swimming areas
• A change in regulations to make it law that the number of operators of such inshore craft must be a minimum of two; one driving and one acting as lookout
• A change in regulations to set minimum international standards for signage around such resorts, and
• A change in regulations to set minimum international standards of medical facilities and trained staff to be available at all times.

The Forever 26 Trust also seeks to increase safety awareness through campaigning for travel brokers internationally to include health and safety as comparative information available in their brochures along with the current comparisons of food quality, room quality and the like.
The Forever 26 Trust also in part seeks to hold those accountable who through their negligence caused such a senseless death to occur.

This may seem to some a big task, but it is achievable and lives will be saved. Becky was not the first to die, but we can make her the last, and to achieve this, Heather, John and I need help; we need your help.

If you wish to discuss this further with me, please contact me on mark@forever26.com.

The Forever 26 Trust has formally applied for charitable status in New Zealand and this will be retrospective back to the 8th of May 2008. We can see no reason for this formal request to be denied, however this is a long process and the outcome will not be known for at least another 3 months.

If at any time you wish to make a donation, this can be made:

• Directly at any National Bank in New Zealand under the name of “Forever 26”,
• By the PayPal button on the right side of the screen, or
• Through a funds transfer to:

• The National Bank of New Zealand, Blenheim Branch 40 - 42 Market Street, Blenheim
• SWIFT Code: ANZBNZ22
• Account Name: FOREVER 26
• Account: 06 - 0601 - 0211815 - 30
• Sort Code (if Required separately): 06 - 0601

Any assistance will be most gratefully received. We cannot do this without your support.

From approximately 12:30 pm today New Zealand time, 3rd Jul 2008, and for approximately the next 24 hours, an interview on the TV New Zealand “Good Morning” program will be accessible through the following link:

http://tvnz.co.nz/view/tvone_minisite_index_skin/tvone_good_morning_group

Thank you for reading this, thank you to all who care for and love Rebecca, and thank you sincerely on behalf of Heather, John and myself and all of Becky’s family to those who can help us make some sense out of Becky’s death by doing our best to make sure that she is the last of our children to be brought home in this way.

With your help, we can make a difference; we can save lives; and we can bring some meaning to Rebecca’s death.