THE grieving mum of a schoolboy killed in a tragic accident is putting her artistic skills to good use to raise money for Julia’s House.

Tanya Cooper started painting pebbles shortly after the death of her 16-year-old son, Kyle Rees, when he was hit on the head with a cricket ball at Portchester School in Bournemouth last year.

Now Tanya, who is manager of the cafe at the BEET Language Centre in Charminster, is selling them to language students to boost the school’s links with the children’s hospice.

The language school has been a supporter of Julia’s House for several years.

And when the charity found out what Tanya was doing, they contacted paint specialists Farrow & Ball who supplied boxes full of samples to allow her to keep up the good work.

“This is fantastic, it means I can just keep on painting” said Tanya. “There are so many lovely colours – it’s really generous.”

The paints will be put to good use when Tanya designs some 10th anniversary pebbles for the charity.

Since Kyle’s death, thousands of pounds have been raised for good causes.

His friends at Avonbourne and Harewood Colleges in Harewood Avenue, Bournemouth have won awards for their efforts in producing and selling wristbands in Kyle’s memory. All cash raised from the venture has been given to Southampton Hospital’s paediatric intensive care unit where Kyle was treated before he died.

The group has also sold pebbles painted as bugs with Kyle’s name and date of birth, December 14 1995, on the bottom.