Grieving family raises £5,000 for guide dog pup in beloved Nyki's name

The family of a woman killed by a drunk driver has raised £5,000 to buy a guide dog puppy in her memory.
Carole Gradwell with her guide dog Rosie, and her son Liam with pup Nyki, named after Carole's daughter and Liam's sister Nyki Taylor, who died in a car crash in 2016Carole Gradwell with her guide dog Rosie, and her son Liam with pup Nyki, named after Carole's daughter and Liam's sister Nyki Taylor, who died in a car crash in 2016
Carole Gradwell with her guide dog Rosie, and her son Liam with pup Nyki, named after Carole's daughter and Liam's sister Nyki Taylor, who died in a car crash in 2016

Lytham cafe owner Nyki Taylor, 39, was fatally injured when the Vauxhall Astra she was a passenger in hit a lamppost in January 2016.

Her mother Carole Gradwell, of Mythop Avenue, Lytham, and her family channelled their grief into hosting afternoon tea parties, bake sales, and a sponsored wax-off event for men.

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The cash went towards naming a guide dog puppy Nyki, and its training, while Carole and her son Liam travelled to the Atherton training school to see Nyki in her puppy class recently.

Nyki TaylorNyki Taylor
Nyki Taylor

Carole, 61, who has her own guide dog Rosie, said: “It was amazing to meet puppy Nyki. It was a wonderful experience.

“It was so lovely to see how the money raised has gone towards something so special in naming Nyki.

“We are hoping when she goes to be a guide dog, somebody round this area will get her.”

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Siobhan Cullen, fundraiser for the Guide Dogs charity, said it was an ‘incredible moment to be a part of’, and added: “Naming a puppy is such an amazing gift. It’s so special to see something positive in what is still a heartbreaking time for the family.”

The man who was driving the Astra in which Nyki (inset) died, Michael Wilson, was jailed for 40 months in September 2016.

The then-27-year-old, of Albert Street in Lytham, was found guilty of causing death by dangerous driving by being over the legal alcohol limit.

He has since been released.

Following her death, Nyki, who ran Taylor’s Cafe in Clifton Street, was called a ‘loving daughter and sister’.

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