A POPULAR young musician was killed after the car he was travelling in with two pals crashed into a wall near his Gawsworth home.

Agricultural student Matthew Christopher Royle, 18, a talented cornet player with the award-winning Bollington Brass Band, died two days after the accident.

Friends and band members were stunned by the tragedy and tributes flowed this week over the young man who was a back seat passenger in a green Vauxhall Corsa being driven on the Macclesfield to Congleton Road late last Thursday night. The car left the road near Eaton and collided with a wall.

Matthew was rushed to Macclesfield District General Hospital with serious injuries, but lost his fight for life on Saturday (June 26).

Matthew was the second cornet player in the band, which has postponed a concert planned to take place in the Bollington Methodist Church on July 10 as a mark of respect.

Former chairman of the band, Roger Johnson, said that they needed time to prepare for the funeral, likely to be held next week, and that nobody was in the right frame of mind to produce a good performance.

"Matthew was very well loved by the whole band and our thoughts go out to his mum, dad and sister," he said.

"It is a real tragedy that has knocked the band back considerably. In the end it will bring us closer together but it has really been a major blow. It just seems such a waste of a young life."

A keen football player, Matthew was also a member of the Young Farmers' Club and would often help his father on their own farm at Pastures Farm off Congleton Road.

He gained an Agricultural Mechanics Qualification at Reaseheath Agricultural College in Nantwich, where he was studying on a three-year block release course.

While completing this course, Matthew started work as a service technician at Agricultural Machinery Dealers Campey Richard in Marton.

Head of Engineering at the college, Melvin Johnson, said: "He started here in September 2002 and did a one-year full-time course. He was a very popular lad with staff and students alike."

His parents were too distressed to talk about the incident at their home on Tuesday.

Another passenger in the car, a 16-year-old man from Macclesfield, suffered slight injuries in the crash.

The driver, a 17-year-old Macclesfield man, was arrested and questioned at Wilmslow Police Station in connection with the incident, before being released on police bail. He was unhurt.

  • POLICE are appealing for witnesses to contact Sergeant Ian Holley, of the Road Policing Unit, on 01244 350000.