A SCHOOLGIRL helped raise more than £2,000 for the charity which helped her cope with the death of her mum’s partner.

Birch Copse Primary School pupil Abbey Molyneux presented the £2,095 cheque to Daisy’s Dream worker Gillian Harrison, who provided her with counselling following the death of Peter Redding.

Abbey and her mum, Rachel Weyl organised a local bands festival last month at The Gateway pub, in Greyfriars Road, in memory of car salesman and musician Mr Redding, who drowned in the Thames outside The Red Lion Hotel in Henley in July. He was 34.

All proceeds from the all-day event, which included collection boxes, a charity auction and T-shirt sales, went towards the charity, while Abbey was first up on to the stage to perform a drum solo.

Miss Weyl, who was in a long-term relationship with Mr Redding, said: “Abbey and I thought it would be a good idea to fundraise at the same time as holding the festival and the day was amazing.

“It started at 2pm in the afternoon and went on until around midnight and the pub was full all day.”

The 45-year-old dentist, from Armour Hill, said her friends Dan Winchester and Claire Hill, from Caversham, weighed in with £1,000 for the charity after running the Reading Half Marathon.

Mr Redding, a talented guitarist who worked at Audi Motors in Rose Kiln Lane, drowned after a night out with friends. He had held a donor card since he was 16 and his retinas and heart valves were used in transplants for babies and children.

Rachel added: “Daisy’s Dream has been really good with Abbey. She found the death difficult to talk about at first. The charity gave her a feelings book and they talked about everything to get it out into the open. We take care of each other.”