A FUNDRAISING football match has been arranged to support the family of Burnley teenager Declan Edwards.

Friends and family have continued to support Declan’s mum and dad Mandy and Christopher and have now arranged the charity game to raise funds for the teenager’s funeral. The match between students from Unity College and Shuttleworth College will be held at Padiham Football Club, in Well Street, on Thursday, starting at 6pm.

Adult entry is £2 and children’s tickets cost £1. A fundraising page has also been set up in Declan’s memory, with more than £2,100 already collected.

Wesley Hall, from Nelson, who set up the site, said: “This just goes to show how much people pull together at a time like this.

“A funeral is an expensive service and to take that weight off Declan’s family is a nice gesture. If each person just puts in a couple of pounds, we can easily do it.”

And a one-off gig by group Dirty Suns is due to be held at the Bombay Lounge in Barrowford from 8pm on Friday. Tickets cost £15. The funeral will be held at St Catherine’s Church, in Todmorden Road, Burnley, on Saturday at 10am.

He will be laid to rest at Burnley Cemetery at 11.30am. Family flowers only have been requested, but donations in Declan’s memory can be made to the Street League charity.

An inquest into Declan’s death was opened and adjourned yesterday.

Coroner’s officer Martin Hall said: “Declan had been reported missing by his family after he had last been seen by friends in Towneley Park on the evening on May 3. A police investigation to locate Declan was commenced. He was subsequently found hanging from a tree by the police underwater search unity as they searched the nearby waterways.”

A post-mortem examination was carried out at Royal Blackburn Hospital by Dr Salmon, who found that the cause of Declan’s death was hanging. Toxicology tests are now due to be carried out. The inquest will be heard in full on August 19.