27/10/2026
❤️ " A present from Puddy " ❤️
We at Glentrees are honoured to be apart of this wonderful idea created by Puddy's family and friends❤️
This is heartbreaking 💔
This is Zacharias Atkinson, known by loved ones as Puddy. He sadly died following an incident at the Langton Dock in Bootle on Wednesday, December 11 2024.
Police confirmed the 19 year-old died at the scene. Almost two years on, Puddy’s mum, Michelle Hynes, told the ECHO her son was a “lovely person” as she revealed his brothers Adam and Sam were with him at the time of the tragic incident. His other brother Ethan also worked in the same place.
Michelle, 50, from Stoneycroft said: “Puddy was just a lovely kid. He was really kind. He was really popular. He was loved by all his friends and had a really big personality. He really was an amazing person.
“The Puddy nickname came from his cousin Skye’s nan Val. He was a chubby baby and she always called him Pudding. We shortened it to Puddy and it just stuck. Everyone called him Puddy - family, friends, teachers in school.
“He worked with his brothers so they were all at the scene. It was Adam that phoned me and said, there's been an accident.
“It's been very difficult, obviously, for his brothers. He had a very close relationship with his brothers. They went to the Liverpool match together.”
One comfort the family had during the very difficult time was the outpouring of support they received. Michelle said: ”We had support from neighbours, the wider community, obviously all our close friends and our family, but it went beyond that.”
Michelle added: “I've become really close friends with the funeral directors who looked after him, Jane and Sav [at Glentrees Funeral Service].
“They do a bereavement group once a month, and I go to that bereavement group. After one of the bereavement groups, I spoke to them both and I said, ‘look, we'd like to do something where we help families out with money towards funerals, would that be something you would be on board with doing?’ And they were like, ‘absolutely.’"
The funeral service, based in Clubmoor, confirmed earlier this month Puddy’s family have joined forces with them to donate money to help families struggling to cover funeral costs.
Michelle believes their partnership with the funeral service is something Puddy would have backed wholeheartedl