THE cousin of a teenager who drowned in York’s River Ouse last year has found a novel way of raising funds for York Rescue Boat while staying at home in isolation.

Hayleigh Lockwood Twose - whose 19-year-old cousin Sonny Ferry died in the River Foss during a night out in April 2019 - will become a ‘puppet’ on Sunday, letting supporters control 24 hours of her life... at a price.

She said people could plan her whole day, from activities and challenges to everyday essentials such as what she eats, drinks and wears.

She invited people to message her with their suggested task and said she would quote them a price on how much it was going to take for her to agree.

She said the 37 challenges she had agreed to so far to included dressing up as a unicorn for most of the day, doing an obstacle course dressed as a panda,allowing her mum to do her make up blindfolded, dunking her head in a bucket of beans and applying as many pegs to her face as possible.

“The creativity and generosity has been phenomenal and I’m excited / slightly nervous to see how it all goes,” she said.

“I hope I do Sonny, my family and everyone who has donated proud.”

Hayleigh said she thought she had now raised about £750 and hoped for more donations through the day.

She said: “Please be kind. I will be documenting my day on live feeds, and ultimately a video montage of the day so you can rest assured these things will happen as long as you donate. This is all for a fantastic cause and if you know me, you will know it’s a cause very close to my heart.”

People can make suggestions until midday tomorrow by going to https://www.facebook.com/haylee.twose/posts/10160167473693973, or make donations by going to www.gofundme.com/f/the-sunshine-campaign?

The Sunshine Campaign was launched by Sonny’s parents Kate and Stephen after his death in a bid to help prevent more such tragedies.

The couple are trying to raise £45,000 to buy a new state-of-the-art craft for York Rescue Boat, fitted with high tech features including3D Scanning Sonar and a new radio system, and the total raised so far comes to £27,233.