Rivington Pike to be lit yellow in memory of Chorley tot Lily-Mai Pugh

Rivington Pike will be highlighted in yellow and gold hues on Friday night - the official colour associated with Childhood Cancer Awareness month.

Beth and Jake Pugh, from Chorley, lost their three-year-old daughter, Lily-Mai, just a few weeks ago, but are bravely sharing their story to urge other families to educate themselves on signs to look out for.

They successfully campaigned for Rivington Pike and Chorley’s Town Hall clock to be lit gold to raise awareness.

Andrew Suter, Heritage Programmes manager, confirmed to the family that the Pike will be lit for Lily-Mai by company CDS events from Coppull.

He said: “ Rivington Heritage Trust is happy to support the family at such a difficult time. We encourage everyone to look to the Pike on Friday and take a moment to reflect on Lily-Mai’s story and the important work the charity do.

September was designated Childhood Cancer Awareness Month to increase understanding as cancer is the leading cause of death by disease for children under the age of 14.

Every two minutes a child is diagnosed - 300,000 every year. One in five will die.

Lily-Mai, who attended Eaves Green pre school, suddenly became poorly at the start of the lockdown and in June was diagnosed with pleuropulmonary blastoma, a rare chest cancer.

The battling tot, who loved Disney movies, started chemotherapy, but started to deteriorate. She passed away in July and her family have campaigned ever since, in her memory.

Beth said: "We are overwhelmed that people have taken time out of their busy schedule to make this happen, to honour our little girl and all the children who have had to go through this horrific disease.

"Rivington is one of our favourite places to go and will always hold special memories of our adventures.

"It goes to show anything is possible, this is the start of our awareness journey and we want to thank everyone who has been involved. It has been our aim to do this and we have succeeded.

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