A MUSIC festival held in memory of a York father who died in a fall from a ladder has raised almost £3,000 for the Yorkshire Air Ambulance.

David Elks was taken in the service's helicopter from Upper Poppleton village green to hospital in Leeds after the accident in May last year but he could not be saved.

The 50-year-old, who had been fit and healthy and ran his own business, David Elks Windows, had been completing parts of an extension at his house in Upper Poppleton when he fell from the 15ft to 20ft ladder. A coroner concluded earlier this year that his death was an accident.

Now his family and friends have organised a festival named Greenfields, Rock in Pop, at which 300 invited guests listened to music by Mike Johnson, Keegan Snaize and Remote before dancing the night away to York covers band The Supermodels.

"It was an amazing night to remember him by," said Martin Reynolds, a friend who organised the festival with David's widow Debbie and daughter Katie, with help from another villager Alan Bootiman.

"Proceeds from the tickets, raffle and licensed bar raised £2,858.88. It was an absolutely fantastic night. Dave was a gentle, kind and fun loving person. He would have loved the night.

"He is so sadly missed by everyone who knew him as a friend and through his business, Dave Elks Windows."

He said the festival was staged earlier this month in his back garden off Millfield Lane, Poppleton, where he had organised a similar event last year to celebrate his own 50th birthday.

The money was raised at the festival through a £10 entry charge and a raffle, to which about a dozen local businesses contributed prizes.

He thanked York Brewery for providing free and discounted beer for the festival, and D&J Stead of Stockton Lane, who provided bales of straw for people to sit on, which were later sold to help the fundraising.