SCHOOL friends of a 17-year-old girl who fell to her death from a bridge over a main road have raised money in her memory.

Rachel Collins died after falling onto the A56 in Haslingden on October 14.

Now her sixth-form pals at the town’s high school held a special event to raise money for two mental health charities being supported by her family.

It featured 1980s music, a raffle, a table tennis rally and cake stalls with the proceeds going to the special JustGiving pages for Young Minds Trust and Place2Be.

The evening, organised by Rhys Morton and Mariam Gul from the school’s Sixth-Form Management Team with Rachel’s 16-year-old stepsister and fellow pupil Amelia Harrison, raised £500.

Rachel was well-known for her brightly-coloured hair and her dad Sean and family asked that brightly-coloured ribbons be attached to the nearby bridge.

Rhys,17, said: “We got in contact with Rachel’s parents because we wanted to raise money for their JustGiving pages and the charity event grew out of several ideas we all had.

“Teachers Mr Albiston and Mr Burrows, who are in a band Uptown Two, performed ’80s music and there was a raffle with 25 prizes, mostly donated from local businesses.

“One teacher gave us £20 for a single strip of tickets. This was our way of showing our support for the family.”

Amelia said: “It is all about raising awareness and encouraging people not be scared to talk about mental health.

“It is really good for Rachel’s family to see the ribbons and the messages of support that people have put on the bridge.

“Rachel’s family do not want her to be forgotten and the ribbons are something positive.

“When I told Sean how much had been raised he was totally overwhelmed.”

Headboy Tarek Ahmed said: “Rachel was a quiet girl but everyone knew her. When it happened people did not know how to feel.

“School handled it very well and we have had counselling and help in school when people wanted to talk and we had a visit from a therapy dog called Chase.”

Her family said at the time: “Rachel was a beautiful and popular girl who is missed and loved by family and friends.”

Mark Jackson, headteacher at Haslingden High, said in a tribute: “This has hit us hard and Rachel will be greatly missed. She was intelligent and hard-working and had a network of close friends. She firmly believed in equality for everyone and was never a young person who would follow the crowd.”