Collection tins placed around Tyneside to raise money for blast victim Archie York's funeral
by Sophie Doughty · ChronicleLiveCash is being collected to help pay for tragic blast victim Archie York's funeral.
The seven-year-old died when a huge explosion ripped through several homes, in Benwell, Newcastle, last week. Jason Laws, who was in his 30s, was also killed in the incident.
Now fundraising is underway to help pay for the schoolboy's funeral. Collection tins have been placed in pubs and shops across Tyneside including; The Powder Monkey, The Ship and The Anchor, all in Wallsend, along with Byker Post Office.
In a post on Facebook, Nathan Tonks, said: "Just to let everyone know if you want to donate towards our beautiful boy Archie York, to help towards his funeral and stuff there are fundraising tins in The Powder Monkey, The Ship, The Anchor, The Post Office."
Meanwhile work colleagues of Archie's mum has set-up a page on the online fundraising site GoFundMe. More than £17,000 has been donated so far.
A post on the page says: "You may have heard on the news about a house explosion through the night. Devastatingly this was one of our colleagues' house and in this tragic incident they have lost their seven-year-old boy. We are currently supporting this staff member, their family and staff through this horrendous time.
"They have lost everything and only have what they're stood up in. We as a team of work colleagues are raising money to help one of our colleagues whose family lost everything in this horrendous night. All donations will be given directly to the family to help build their new family home."
The cause of the explosion, which happened on Violet Close at around 1am on Wednesday, is still being investigated. A huge collection of flowers, toys and balloons have since been left at the scene.
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