THOUSANDS of pounds were raised as friends and relatives of York war hero Matthew Hatton gathered in his memory.

Becky Hatton, the younger sister of the late Lance Bombardier Hatton, organised the event at the Cottage Inn in Haxby on Saturday night.

She said: “It went really well. We had a really good night.”

There was a casino, auction, a raffle and a disco, as well as food, and the event raised £5,000 towards soldiers’ charity Help For Heroes.

Lance Bombardier Hatton, 23, of Haxby, became York’s first victim of the war in Afghanistan when he was killed by a double-explosion in the country’s Helmand province in August.

A group of his family and friends has already raised tens of thousands of pounds for Help For Heroes, and is planning a sponsored climb of Mount Kilimanjaro in the spring.