Memorial gala to be held to mark 18th birthday of Doncaster crash victim

Blake Cairns was just 16-years-old when he died in a two vehicle collision, that also caused the deaths of school friends Megan Storey and Jordanna Goodwin, both aged 16, and 18-year-olds Arpad Kore and Bartsoz Bortniczak

The two-vehicle collision occurred in Sheffield Road, Conisbrough in November 2014, and to mark what would have been Blake’s 18th birthday his family are set to hold a memorial gala on Sunday that they hope will raise hundreds of pounds for the Black Cairns Memorial Foundation.

Family friend, Karen Westwood, says Blake’s mum and dad, Les and Karen Cairns want to use the foundation as a way of trying to help the families of other young crash victims.

The 50-year-old said: “Les and Helen really want to help other families if they can.

“They want to do some good, and to be able to go round and speak to the families and help them out with money if they can, whether that’s for the costs of looking after someone who might be recovering from a crash, or for money to go towards a funeral, whatever they need it for really.”

“Blake was always very close to his family, and was very proud of them, and I think if he could see what they were doing with his gala and with what they want to do with the money from it he’d be beaming with pride.”

The gala will take place at Grove Park in Intake from 11am tomorrow. Among the fundraising events planned for the day are a tennis tournament, children’s races, a coconut shy, a tug of war competition, welly wanging and a fancy dress competition. There will also be entertainment on offer in the form of the RLC Cheerleaders, Funky Fresh Dancers, the Salvation Army Band and singer Amy Plant. The event is being held in association with Friends of Grove Gardens.

For more information visit the Blake Cairns Foundation on Facebook.