A FAMILY will mark what would have been the 19th birthday of Oxford schoolgirl Grace Hadman tomorrow.

Just over a year after the popular teenager’s tragic death in a car crash on the A34, her parents and brothers said her memory lives on as strongly as ever.

Mum Carol said: “Grace is in my mind almost every single moment of every day as vivid memories constantly bombard me.

“I feel she’s in the hearts and minds of everyone who knew her. Her art also means she’s still around, going forward and contributing.”

The family – Carol, father Bill and three older brothers Robert, Jasper and William – said Grace, who was a pupil at St Edward’s School in North Oxford, her vibrant artwork would be lasting memorials.

A print featuring a free-spirited butterfly escaping from a collection of insects pinned to a board is being sold in aid of two charities which Grace was involved in, The African Children’s Fund and Building Futures in Malawi.

Her family is also reproducing her artwork on T-shirts.

They feature Grace’s inventive and quirky Alice in Wonderland sketches and nature studies, including her favourite butterfly, and may also be used for diaries, postcards and wrapping paper.

Mrs Hadman, from Lower Swell, near Stow-on-the-Wold, said: “Her friends really love the T-shirts and Grace’s print has been admired in its own right by people who know nothing about her. I’m very proud of that. I just wish I could have told her how proud I am of her and her art.”

Grace’s death also inspired a charity cycle ride from Paris to Oxford’s John Radcliffe Hospital by Joe Robinson, a passenger in the car in which Grace lost her life.

He raised £30,000 in Grace’s memory for the hospital which treated him.

He said: “She was a very close friend of so many people, a friend who will never be forgotten and always be at the bottom of so many people’s hearts.”

A bench with Grace’s name carved on the front and small plaque on the back stands in the school quad, next to Grace’s cherry tree, planted last November.

Grace was born in Leicester and moved to Bangalore on her third birthday, attending the Aditi School.

She joined the Dragon School in 1999, quickly becoming popular with staff and pupils.

With very good academic achievements as well, she won an all-rounder award at St Edward’s. She was particularly talented at sport, especially swimming, rowing, hockey, netball and rounders.

She loved maths and bio-logy, had a passion for music and acting.

For more about Grace and her print, see website gracematilda.org