A FALLEN soldier who died after being shot in Afghanistan will be honoured in the streets of his hometown if a petition by residents succeeds.

Kingsman Darren Deady, from Westhoughton, died at the age of just 22-years-old after being shot in action in Afghanistan in 2010.

Westhoughton residents have launched a petition, asking Bolton Council to rename a street as Darren Deady Way.

Almost a decade later, mum Julie Hall is remembering her beloved son: "Nine years on, we're still struggling with it, but we celebrate his life we don't mourn it. It's how he would have wanted it.

"The squaddies used to call him 'little legs with a big heart'. He was always raising morale with the lads. If someone was down, he would bring them back up. He was always up to mischief, singing and dancing all the time.

"People don't get upset when they talk about Darren, they laugh. The lads always say they can still hear him chunnering on."

The brave mum, 54, says she feels her son around her everyday: "It feels like he's not gone anywhere — that's how I carry on. He's always with me. I would have loved nothing more than to watch him grow up and raise children. You expect to your children grow up and develop, but it's my way of coping, that I know he is there. He will always be alive, he lives on with us."

Kingsman Deady, of the Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment, was on his second tour of duty in Afghanistan, two and half years into his service in the armed forces, when he was shot.

Kingsman Deady was injured in the Nahr-e Saraj District of Helmand Province on August 23, 2010. He later died at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham on September 10 that year.

Now, Westhoughton residents are petitioning the council to change Cricketers Way to Darren Deady Way, along efforts to fundraise £700 for a silhouette soldier memorial.

Ms Hall says that her lifelong home of Westhoughton has been 'brilliant' in the years since her son's death. The new campaign is just the latest show of residents' support for her family.

She said: "To keep his memory alive would be amazing.

"It would be absolutely awesome. People and kids will ask 'who is Darren Deady?'.

"It's an ever lasting memory for everyone, saying that he was one of our soldiers who fought in Afghanistan. Darren would love it."

Donations to the fundraising can be made at justgiving.com/crowdfunding/darrendeadymemorial and the petition can be found at gopetition.com.