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Your Votes Have Been Counted And Your LAD Of The Year Has Been Revealed

Your Votes Have Been Counted And Your LAD Of The Year Has Been Revealed

Thousands of you voted.

Mel Ramsay

Mel Ramsay

Over the last few months, we've been featuring one of you lot every week as our 'LAD of the Week'. As you can imagine, it's been very difficult to choose just one of you every seven days when there's so many of you doing awesome shit in general.

When it came to choosing a 'LAD of the Year', it was pretty much impossible. All of the lads we've featured so far deserve the title. So, we decided to leave that up to you.

LAD of the year
LAD of the year

As you can see, Luke Jay Mumford was the clear winner. Tragically, he passed away late last year. However, his friends and family are now attempting to do something really cool in his memory.

If you aren't aware of the whole reason Luke was featured on TheLADbible in the first place, here's a recap.

Graphic design student Luke had started buying a homeless person a hot drink on his way to university in Canterbury every day.

After he'd given out his usual hot drink, he was approached by a bloke called Carey who owns the Historic Boat tours in Canterbury.

Speaking to TheLADbible, Luke said: "When Carey approached me, I wasn't sure what his intentions were. So, to begin with, I was somewhat concerned. But then he shook my hand and thanked me for the kind gesture. We discussed it a little longer and he then went on to offer me a position in his company.

"At the time I was somewhat embarrassed and dismissed the praise as I'm a firm believer that random acts of kindness shouldn't be done for the praise, rather the knowledge that you've helped someone and I still feel that way."

Although he didn't accept the job (as he was too busy with his university degree), he was incredibly humbled by the offer.

When asked about what he'd say to other students, he said: "Bring positive change to the communities you're involved in. Be proactive. If you have the power to improve something or make someone happier, do it.

"Set out to do something for someone each day. Even if it's as small as buying someone some food or drink - it all counts."

Tragically, Luke (who had recently passed his driving test) was driving his car in Aylesford (on the road between Eccles and Blue Bell Hill near Maidstone) at around 5.40pm on a Wednesday in November when the accident took place. According to Kent Online, his car mounted a steep bank shortly after the road splits in two and flipped over, landing on its roof in a nearby field.


Credit: Supplied

In his memory, Luke's friends and family have set up a crowdfunding page in an attempt to support the graphic designers of the future. According to the page, his family have asked for the money donated to be used as a hardship fund to help graphic design students to achieve their career goals.

They wrote: "In Luke Mumford, the world lost many things. A son, a brother, a student, a work colleague and, to most, a friend. Not only a talented young man, with a bright future ahead of him, but a person with a huge heart.

"Luke left us all with memories filled with laughter and love. In some respects, his death taught us all so much more about his values and ethos on life. He wanted to have a positive impact on those around him. Luke gave all he could to those around him, both friends and strangers alike."

In their own words, they're hoping to use the money donated in the way he would've wanted. They added: "This could be in a variety of ways including helping them to apply to University by paying their UCAS fees, helping them to travel to interviews and supporting their work at the college, buying equipment, funds toward their end of year exhibition, and so much more."

It just goes to show where Luke got his kindhearted nature from and why he was voted as our LAD of the year by you.

If you want to help them reach their goal of £20,000, you can donate here.

We want to showcase YOUR stories. What are you doing to benefit the community? Is your mate doing something awesome for someone else? Even if you're just helping your next door neighbour in the cold winter months - we want to know about it. Email us with your story - [email protected] and you could be featured next week.

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