THE FAMILY of a Ledbury youngster who held a huge fund-raiser for the charity which saved her best friend's life said they'd 'never seen anything like it.'

Lee Smith, aged 51, suffered a heart attack while playing cricket in June 2023, before having to go through the ordeal a second time in March, but both times he was saved by staff at the Worcester Cardiac Unit. 

Willow Williams, aged nine,  whose family meet Mr Smith regularly at the Talbot Inn, organised a fund-raiser at the same venue on Sunday, where she raised over £7,600 for Worcestershire Acute Hospitals charity.

The idea quickly gained the support of Willows parents Lyndsey and Ben and many of Mr Smith's friends and spiralled into a huge community event, 'Have a Heart for Lee.'

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Five live musical acts volunteered their time to entertain the massive crowd at the fundraiser, and there was also a hog roast, a pub quiz, face painting, competitions and a raffle.  

Willow, who has autism and extreme anxiety, danced and loved every second of the event as she watched her dream of helping others come true, according to proud mum Lyndsey. 

She told the Reporter: "The event was amazing, it was even better than we'd ever hoped for and we raised seven times more than we wanted, which is just incredible. 

"This felt like a moment in time, you couldn't recapture what happened, for a nine-year-old with autism and a man who suffered two heart attacks in less than a year to form this incredible connection is truly special and unique. 

"Lee was overwhelmed, he couldn't get his head around how many people turned up for him, he was so humbled.

"There has never been anything like this in Ledbury, one woman from Worcestershire Acute Hospitals Charity turned up and she said she had never seen anything like it."

She added there were plenty of challenges during the organising, including issues securing a road closure and one of their bands having to cancel at the last minute.

But she said the response from countless volunteers to help them get the event up and running has restored her faith in people.