News Beat
Teenage decorator helped grieving North Yorkshire mother
Sarah Bruce, 54, from North Yorkshire, lost her son Thomas Bruce Gregg, 19, in June 2025 after he drowned in the River Ouse in York.
The loss brought everything to a standstill, including the renovation of her home, a project she had started with Thomas.
Sarah said: “It has been a real struggle and I have tried to do things bit by bit, but everything came to a standstill after Thomas’ death.
“With the stress of bills, his funeral and everything else – and being off work too – it was extremely hard. I never thought I would get the chance to ever do the home again so I just gave up on it.”
Sarah said she became ashamed of the state of her house and could not face it when people came to visit her.
“I was ashamed of the state of the hallway as people walked through my home as they visited,” she said.
Her life changed after she saw a Facebook post from 16-year-old Danny Campbell, a painter/ decorator from Thirsk, who offered to paint or decorate parts of people’s homes for free while setting up his own business.
Danny stepped in to help finish the hallway.
Sarah said: “It was really emotional, actually as Thomas and I had started renovating – it was a sad moment to see it finally be done.
“Just coming down the stairs, I sat on them and looked at the hallway and the lovely ceiling as the light came in. It put a smile on my face — I haven’t smiled in a long time. It means the absolute world to me, and I cannot thank Danny enough.
“I have spent months in my bed and struggling, and I just didn’t know where to start with anything.
“It has just been six months of hell, and I am still in it. I don’t know if we will ever come out of it but this has made life a lot easier.”
Danny said he began offering free work to build a portfolio while setting up his business after college.
He said: “While I set up my business after college I thought it was a good way to get a portfolio of work, I started doing free jobs for local people like family and friends and then I thought I would try improve someone else’s house if they were in need.
“It was really nice to give someone who has struggled for so long the first step to helping improve her life and home and was just more than happy with the response- makes it worth it.”
He is now working between jobs to give people quotes and works from York to Darlington and everywhere in between.
