Memorial rugby match for teen killed in car crash

Family and friends of a teenager who was killed in a car crash will play a charity rugby match in her memory.

Bethany Branson, 19, died when a car she was in was hit by a driver who had gone through a red light in November 2022.

The match will be played at Bridgwater and Albion Rugby Football Club on Friday evening and raise money for St Giles Animal Welfare and Wooden Spoon.

Ms Branson had played for the club since the age of 13 and her father will referee the match.

It will be the second memorial match held for Ms Branson, and her mum Amy told BBC Radio Somerset it would be "incredibly overwhelming and touching" to see players travel from across the country to play.

"I stood back and watched from the stands last year and I was incredibly emotional just seeing all of those people... who had come out to support us and Bethany's team.

"Bridgwater as a town can often be put down, but it has surrounded us with so much love and we are so incredibly grateful, and it's as if they felt the horror of what happened on a road in our town."

Mrs Branson added: "Nothing will ever make life ok, but doing something so positively in her name and keeping her memory alive and her legacy going, and people speaking her name just means so much to us.

"The judge summed her up saying she was destined for a life of giving, and we're really just trying to continue that legacy of giving to others and doing for others, and this is what this match is about."

The teenager volunteered for St Giles Animal Welfare, while her team-mates chose Wooden Spoon - an organisation which supports vulnerable children through rugby.

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