A FOOTBALL match and family fun day is being held this weekend in memory of a little girl who died from a heart condition.

Darcy, who lived in Malton, with her parents Emily and Kristian D’Rosario, died on January 24, just five days after her sister, Beatrice, was born.

The six-year-old, who was born with a serious heart condition, was due to undergo an operation at Leeds General Infirmary when an infection went to her heart.

Kristian said they had organised The Darcy Cup to raise much needed funds for Martin House Children’s Hospice in Wetherby.

“After the sudden passing of our daughter, Darcy, we were introduced to Martin House where we were able to stay with our little girl for five days,” he said.

“It costs £22,000 per day to run Martin House and we as a family would like to raise as much funds as possible to thank them for all they have done for us.”

The charity event takes place tomorrow at Old Malton Cricket and Football Club.

It starts at 1pm with the football match kicking off at 2pm. There will also be refreshments, bouncy castle, inflatable slide and raffles.

Kristian said: “It’ll be a single game between Team Ladybird and Team Bee, which both hold special meanings for us. These are our daughters' nicknames, Darcy was our little ladybird due to favourite colour being red and Beatrice is better known as Bea (Bee).

“There is no charge to join us for The Darcy Cup, but you can freely donate as much or as little as you like by putting into charity buckets dotted around, or even buying at the various stalls on the day who will all be donating their profits to our total for the charity.”

Kristian added: “Living without our precious little girl Darcy is by far the hardest thing we have ever had to face.

“Every morning we wake up and have a huge part of our family missing and our lives will never ever be the same, but we will never let her be forgotten.

“We talk about her at every possible moment and this is so important so that Beatrice will learn all about how inspiring her big sister was.

“It is so very hard knowing we will never get to kiss Darcy goodnight again, or see our two girls growing up together.

“Life feels very unfair right now but we are keeping ourselves focused on trying to make sure Darcy’s memory is kept burning bright.

“We know she would have done great things had her life not been cruelly cut short, so it is our mission now to do those things for her and this is our motivation for all the charity work we are doing.”