Friends rally for children whose dad was found dead in park

Steve Wardle, from Lytham, was found in a pond at Preston’s Haslam Park last Monday, which left his friends and family devastated.

The former Arnold pupil and Blackpool and The Fylde College student left behind two children, Harry, 12, and Eloise, two, and £10,000 is being crowdfunded by well-wishers and kind-hearted strangers. It will “secure their futures and give them the best possible way of going to college and university,” the online fundraising page said.

Some £1,325 had been raised through 25 donations by yesterday afternoon.

Frankie Wolfe said: “As a school friend of mine, he was kind, big-hearted, funny and so full of positivity and love all the time. Everyone who knew him spoke very highly of him and loved him very much. “And although I hadn’t seen him for a long time, I feel incredibly sad about his passing. He leaves behind two young children, a devastated family who he was very close to, and a loving girlfriend. He was also a personal trainer and I know his colleagues and clients alike have been left totally distraught.”

Mr Wardle’s mum Diane said the family was “devastated by what has happened,” and said:

“It means so much to us all how many people have come 
forward to send their love 
and support.”

Police were not treating Mr Wardle’s death as suspicious. Donate online at justgiving.com/crowdfunding/steve-wardle