AN actress and her friends had 12,000 reasons to celebrate at the end of two charity shows held to mark the tenth anniversary of her mother’s death.

In less than three months, Chloe Shipley has achieved her aim of raising £10,000 for Cancer Research UK in the memory of mother Diane Shipley, of Norton, near Malton, who died from bowel cancer aged 41. With help from friends and family, and with the money still coming in, the total is now £12,500 and counting.

Chloe said: “It’s amazing. I’m over the moon. We have cut our social life and spent the whole time organising and getting it altogether.”

The fundraising, which culminated in the two concerts, began when the 20-year-old actress and choreographer from York Road, Haxby, returned home from America in September and decided to do something to mark the tenth anniversary of her mother’s death. At that stage she was planning to return to America in May, so she set up two concerts at the Milton Rooms, Malton, for May 15.

Chloe and relatives and friends staged a football match and other events and fund-aising activities, as well as recruiting fellow performers from Malton, where she attended dance school. They were delighted to have a chance to get together in honour of Diane, whom most of them had known and remembered.

Among them was Lara Zoeller, who sang at Diane Shipley’s funeral.

Chloe said: “A show normally takes about three months to rehearse, but everyone lives so far apart, we didn’t have a single rehearsal until the morning of the show.”

Two days before the concert, Diane’s brother Stuart Taylor and his son Mark set off from Alexandra Palace by bicycle in a sponsored bid to get to Malton in time for the matinee performance.

Chloe said: “They came on to the stage with their bikes just before the finale and surprised everyone.”

Chloe is now planning a break from fundraising and catching up on her social life. Her return to America has been postponed.