The family of Hartley Wareham has launched a JustGiving appeal for a bespoke Hey Duggee memorial bench after the two-year-old died in Spain. The fundraiser, organised by Darren Wareham, is already drawing support as the family looks for a lasting place to remember him.
An inquest into Hartley’s death opened on Tuesday, July 22, giving the case its first formal public step. He was found unresponsive in a swimming pool at a villa where the family were staying on June 29, then died in hospital on July 3 at Hospital Materno Infantil. Exeter City FC said it was supporting Jayden Wareham through a very difficult time and asked for the Wareham family’s privacy to be respected.
The appeal is built around a very specific memorial. The family said Hey Duggee was Hartley’s absolute favourite thing in the world, and that his favourite place was out in the garden, exploring, playing and smiling. The bench they want to create would sit proudly in that garden and give them somewhere to sit close to him and hold on to the moments they shared.
Exeter City FC said the Wareham family were fundraising for a bespoke Hey Duggee Bench in Hartley’s memory. The fundraiser says many friends and family had already asked where they could make a donation, and more than £2,300 had been raised. If the total goes beyond what is needed for the bench, the extra money will go towards bereavement counselling for the family.
That detail matters because the tribute is not only about memory. It is also about what comes after loss, and about a family trying to turn support into something they can return to in the years ahead. Paramedics restored Hartley’s heartbeat after he was found, but his condition later deteriorated and he died four days after being found in the pool, leaving unanswered how the accident unfolded in the first place.
The next major step will be the full inquest at a later date. For now, the fundraiser is the clearest sign of how the family wants Hartley remembered: not in public statements or formal proceedings, but in a garden bench marked by the thing he loved most.
