A YOUNG Burnley footballer who died in an accident at Turf Moor is to have a sports centre named in his honour by soccer great Sir Bobby Charlton.

Members of the Clarets first team squad who played with Ben Lee will attend the opening of the £539,000 complex for sick and disadvantaged children next week.

Ben was just 17 when he died trying to retrieve a ball lodged on a roof at the Turf Moor ground eight years ago.

The opening of the Ben Lee Memorial Sports Hall on Thursday will be attended by Burnley first team squad members John Mullin, Paul Weller, Chris Brass and Paul Smith, who played with Ben as apprentices, and the club's youth coach Terry Pashley.

Ben completed a trial with Burnley when he was 16 and became a member of the youth team. He was living in Garswood Close, Burnley, when he died.

His promising career was cut tragically short by the accident following a training session.

Cathy Pickup, secretary of Burnley Football Club, said: "I was working here when Ben died and it was an awful tragedy. He was a lovely lad and had good prospects as a footballer.

"It is nice that his family are able to have something like this in his memory. I was hoping to go to the opening but unfortunately I can't.

"His family still come over to Burnley once a year and lay flowers for him."

The sports hall has been built with help of National Lottery funding at the Children's Adventure Farm, Millington, Knutsford, where Ben worked as a volunteer before joining Burnley FC. He also took part in a number of fundraising events for the farm from the age of 11 until he died at the age of 17, including across-country run with Gary Bailey, the former Manchester United goalkeeper.

Charity worker Lesley Farrell, a former detective in Burnley, said: "We take in children from all over the North West including East Lancashire for a respite break.

"We have a ten acre farm where children who would not otherwise get a holiday because they are disabled, chronically ill or otherwise disadvantaged can take part in all kinds of activities."

Ben's father, Richard, who lives in Knutsford, said: "Ben was only at the club for some six months but I am sure he would have become one of their first team players in time."

"We are extremely proud that this wonderful new sports centre is being named in his memory," he added.

Adventure farm chief executive Dennis Rogers said: "We realise we cannot change a child's life in just a few days but we do believe that we show children who stay here that there is more to life than just their day to day existence.

"It is a memory a child can keep and cherish in the darkest times that really matters."

He said the new hall would enable the site to be used to the full potential all year round.