To celebrate Fred's 18th birthday, please put some money behind the bar for him.

22nd April will be Fred's 18th birthday.

Fred's birthdays used to be lively affairs, usually involving go-karting, mud runs and mayhem.

Birthday presents included bikes, skateboards, more bikes, a street sledge, scooters & roller blades.

He saw cancer as a positive as this meant I might let him have a motorbike.

Fred's 14th birthday was spent in hospital, 2 weeks before he died, after he'd undergone 10 months of gruelling treatment.

Who knows what he would be doing now, but we would like other children to get the chance to find out.

As far as I'm aware (his friends may beg to differ) I don't think he ever had a beer. He'd never had coffee either because, quite frankly, Fred on caffeine was not something any of us were ready for.

I reckon he would have been a cider drinker.

Who am I kidding, Jagerbombs all the way.

To mark the occasion, please buy him a pint or any other appropriate drink of your choice.

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Fred Bennett’s ‘Don’t Look Down’ Fund is a Special Named Fund at CCLG raising money for research into acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) in memory of 14-year-old Fred Bennett.

From the day Fred was born he lived at full speed. He wanted to go higher, faster, with extra danger. He hated to sleep, never sat still and could always be found conjuring up elaborate plans with his friends. Life was one long episode of Wacky Races.

Fred loved anything with wheels. Our shed and hallway overflowed with bikes, scooters and skateboards. He spent months building a soapbox with his friend to launch down a hill at top speed.

We have set up the Don’t Look Down Fund in the hope that more children will get the chance to live the life they deserve. We chose the name as to encompass Fred’s fearless and risk-taking attitude as well as conveying how difficult the whole journey is. Despite everything, Fred was determined to be as active, strong and risk taking as ever, and one thing that really stood out during his illness was his mental resilience and determination. He was adamant he could still do the things he enjoyed. His determination and positive outlook kept us going and made a huge difference to how we look back on his last year.