THE sisters of Haydn Griffiths were surprised on BBC’s The One Show following a nomination.
Haydn, 23, from Lowton, near Wigan, drowned following an ill-fated attempt to swim to the wind turbines in Liverpool Bay after entering the water near Derby Pool in New Brighton on Tuesday, July 19, 2022.
Following extensive searches by the RNLI, Haydn’s family, and members of the local community, his body was found five days later by the coastguard near the Marina in Crosby.
Following his death, Haydn’s two sisters, Megan and Brogan Griffiths, have supported the RNLI by working to remind people of the importance of staying safe around the coast by sharing water safety messages to prevent drowning and save lives.
On Thursday’s show (December 4), the sisters were nominated for the ‘One Big Thank You’. Every week, the show chooses a nominated person who’s gone the extra mile to help others in their community to thank.
Megan and Brogan were surprised by their favourite band, JLS, during a visit to Nottingham, where they were performing that evening.
Megan, who thought she was attending an interview about her work raising awareness around water safety, was then surprised with a meet and greet from bandmates Aston, Marvin, JB, and Oritse.
Coming to clean to Megan about the surprise, The One Show host and band member JB said: “Well listen Megan, we’ve hard a lot about you actually and we know so much that you’ve been doing so much amazing work. Not just you, obviously, your sister Brogan as well. We’re very proud of you.
“But we’ve also got a very big surprise for you.”
Megan responded, “Bigger than meeting you guys?”.
JB added: “Even bigger than meeting us! We’re here from The One Show to give you and your sister, Brogan, a One Big Thank You, which you very much deserve. We know all the hard work that you’ve done, and obviously all the things you’ve had to overcome in order to do that as well. So, not only are we very proud of you, we’re so glad we get to meet you.”
Megan and the band then Facetimed Brogan, who couldn’t make the trip due to a family holiday, to let her in on the surprise.
The band then shared special video messages of thanks from their family, Hoylake RNLI volunteers and staff, as well as members of the community, including the RNLI Lifeboat Chaplain.
In one final surprise, Megan was then given tickets to JLS’s show that evening.
A spokesperson for RNLI Hoylake volunteers said: “Megan and Brogan were nominated for this week’s One Big Thank You for their incredible commitment to supporting the RNLI and promoting water safety and drowning prevention through their Stay Safe For Haydn campaign.
“Following the tragic loss of their brother Haydn, who drowned while swimming on the Wirral coast in July 2022, Megan and Brogan have devoted themselves to ensuring other families don’t have to go through the same experience.
“We want to say a great big thank you to Megan and Brogan for all their amazing efforts to keep people safe on and around the water and to help us save lives at sea.”
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