A huge turnout of well-wishers has raised thousands of pounds for a north-east charity in memory of a teenager who lost her battle with cancer.
Dion Yates, from Lossiemouth, died last year after a long battle with rare bone disease Ewing’s sarcoma. She was just 18.
Now about 3,000 people have turned out at a massive fun day event in her native Middlesbrough to support the Archie Foundation.
Dozens of friends and family travelled the 300 miles from the north-east of England to the north-east of Scotland to visit Dion in her final days.
While visiting Aberdeen, they were supported by the charity with emergency accommodation so they could stay close to the kickboxing fanatic.
Yesterday, her mother Kerry said Dion’s supporters were eager to do something to repay the charity’s generosity.
She said: “I stayed in the hospital for the full two weeks which obviously saved me driving up and down to Lossiemouth all the time.
“So many people came up from Middlesbrough to see her though. It made such a difference for them to know they didn’t have the pressure to look for hotels. It was just amazing.”
Dion was a popular kickboxer in Lossiemouth who continued coaching young competitors despite her illness progressing.
Family friend Michael Kitson organised the event in Middlesbrough – which included an athletic It’s A Knockout tournament and other sports events.
Hundreds of supporters from the town were bolstered by other competitors as well as family who travelled south from Lossiemouth.
Last year, Mr Kitson organised a surprise trip for Dion to travel to Disneyland in Paris as well as tickets for her to see Ed Sheeran.
He said: “We wanted to do something again this year. We had actually started thinking about it before Dion passed and decided to keep going with it.
“I went up to Aberdeen to see Dion so I saw myself what good work the charity did. It made a huge difference for us to know that service was there.”
Mrs Yates added: “The day was just totally Dion. It was exactly the kind of thing that she would have loved getting involved with.”