A WHOLE community rallied round on Sunday to remember a much loved young woman and raise money to support a cause she believed in.

Ayesha Farooq, 23, died when her Vauxhall Corsa was involved in a crash on Uxbridge Road near the Crooked Billet roundabout between Slough and Iver.

At a fund raising charity event in her memory on Sunday her family and friends mingled with councillors and community group members, raising £10,000 to dig water wells in countries where people lack clean water.

It was a cause close to Ayesha's heart and she had been a keen campaigner.

Sunday's event was held at the Iqra School, Fernside, Wexham Road, Family friend Shabnum Sadiq - a Slough borough councillor who represents the Wexham ward Ayesha's family live in - said: "It was a testimony to how loved Ayesha was in the community.

"We sold out of raffle tickets and we had a book of 500. There must have been three or four times that number during the afternoon.

"We were packed between 12 and 5pm."

"We expect the final amount raised to be more than £10,000 as the money is still coming in."

People ran stalls selling food, clothes, bric a brac, perfume. There was a bouncy castle and face painting as well as a games area, while 50 volunteers kept an eye on everything.

Slough's mayor Cllr Arvind Dhaliwal opened the event.

Cllr Sadiq was accompanied by her fellow Wexham councillor Haqeeq Dar.

She said: "Ayesha's family and friends are really pleased with the support and generosity of the local community."

The money raised will boost the Justgiving page set up by Ayesha's family to pay for the water wells. To donate visit https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/ayesha-farooq Calls have been made for improvements to the junction where Ayesha died - a man in his 40s died there only a day earlier.