His dad's opening the shop in Folkestone after his son died in a suspected hit and run in December 2023.
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00:00 Peace, forgiveness, unity, all the stuff that Will was basically, like Will's character.
00:07 He was just an easy going lad, wanted to get on with everyone, be a nice person.
00:13 Almost five months on from the tragic death of Will Brown Jr, his dad's opening a dessert
00:18 parlour in Folkestone in his honour. His son died aged seven in a suspected hit and run,
00:25 and now in his name, the shop will be filled with all of Will's favourite things.
00:29 I lost my son Will Brown, and obviously I'm trying to work out how to process it, so I've
00:36 decided to open this shop in his memory, because I really want to live in his memory and keep
00:42 him around me, keep all the positive thoughts around me. Basically about everything that
00:46 he loves, which is to be fair what most kids love, like ice cream, pick a mix, big outrageous
00:54 things like Doc Giant ice cream cones and big gumball machines.
00:57 Will used to like the big vending machines, and one night I thought, right, what can I
01:04 get in here? And I started googling huge gumball machines. I managed to find one in Holland,
01:10 it's seven foot tall, I think it's got 14,000 gumballs in.
01:14 Across the walls are paintings of Will, which were inspired by this video.
01:21 So he winks at the end, so can you see that? That's that.
01:31 For those who were lucky enough to know Will, the minute they step inside his shop, they'll
01:35 be reminded of all of his favourite things. And for those who didn't know Will, well the
01:40 minute they step inside, they'll be surrounded by all of his favourite foods, and all of
01:44 his favourite things.
01:47 Outside the van, there'll be the Mr Whippy, he loves slush puppy as well, so there'll
01:51 be slush puppy in here.
01:52 William now wants to teach young children all about the dangers of the roads.
01:56 I want to try and offer to all the local schools the opportunity, especially for year two,
02:02 to come in, watch a short video about traffic awareness and road safety, and then they'll
02:07 leave with a Will Brown Jr gumball and they can obviously use the machine, and hopefully
02:12 they'll take that away and remember Will, and they'll also remember obviously what happened
02:17 to Will, and it's really important that they look after themselves. And so we can obviously
02:24 limit the amount of tragedies moving forward.
02:27 Will's funeral in January was attended by thousands wanting to pay tribute to him. And
02:32 now Will Brown Jr's hopes to open its doors in time for the Maybank holiday on the 27th,
02:39 but there's still lots of work to do. His dad hopes this will give those that come along
02:43 a glimpse into the incredible person his son was.
02:47 [BLANK_AUDIO]