School friends of tragic Lowestoft girl Samantha Castledine have taken part in a special walk in her memory to raise awareness of road safety.

Schoolfriends of tragic Lowestoft girl Samantha Castledine have taken part in a special walk in her memory to raise awareness of road safety.

More than 30 pupils from Gunton Primary School, in Gainsborough Drive, pulled on high-visibility jackets and teamed up with emergency services to march to Lowestoft Fire Station yesterday.

Denise Davey, committee chairman of the Gunton Out of School Club, said: "We want to do everything we can to highlight this campaign to the public.

"Samantha was in my son's class. The children seem to have bounced back and can now talk openly about the accident.

"If we can teach every child here about road safety and the dangers on the road then we have done our job properly," she said.

Six-year-old Samantha was waiting to cross the busy A12 Yarmouth Road on her way to school when she was in an accident with a 17-tonne lorry.

She was waiting with a relative at the central reservation close to the junction with Hollingsworth Road seconds before the accident on March 26.

The Gunton Out of School Club was formed in 2000 to help working parents with after-school and holiday care for their children.

Jane Oldman, 40, a teaching assistant at Gunton Primary School and a founder member of the club, said: "The children all seem to be coping well.

"We have a memorial wall at school. There are pictures of Samantha on there and children have written messages to her.

"We are also planning a commemorative bench," she said.

"The children will all have a hand in its design as it is part of their homework for this term."

Insp Stuart Grimsey, of Suffolk Police, said: "We were asked to come along with the other agencies and be there for the young children to raise awareness of road safety following the recent events in Lowestoft."

Samantha's accident prompted a massive public campaign for improvements to the road which was backed by Waveney MP Bob Blizzard. He insisted that the Highways Agency came up with a road-safety scheme.

Highways Agency officials, who are responsible for developments to major trunk roads, are now due to visit Lowestoft on June 8.