PROCEEDS from a charity auction and raffle evening have been split between two charities by a grateful family.

The event was organised at the Jinnah, Flaxton, to raise money for Candlelighters and Leukaeia & Lymphoma Research by Gemma Spratt of Huntington.

Gemma's six-year-old daughter Phoebe Watling was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in December, and Gemma's sisters Claire Crouch and Alexandra Spratt also helped with the event.

Phoebe is getting on okay, and still having the chemotherapy until February 2016. It's a long process so thought we would raise money to give back to the charities that have helped us.

"They are both very good and for children in the future, it's so vitally important and Candlelighters recently sent us to Centre Parcs and that's what they do to give families a break from it all so it's nice to give something back and pay for more families to go."

Sue Natkus of the York Fundraising group at Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research and Keith Hardcastle, trustee of Candlelighters, attended the presentation of cheques totalling £4,536.27.

Sue said: "We are very grateful to Gemma and everyone involved in the recent charity auction and raffle evening for this support and fundraising. Every penny raised for Leukaemia & Lymphoma research helps us in our mission to beat blood cancer by stopping people from dying and making patients lives better."

The organisers also thanked Jinnah Restaurants, Babycakes York, Charlotte Atkinson Photography, Picture Us Photobooth and Balloons Above.