An appeal by the Evening Star in Ipswich has helped create a lasting memorial to schoolgirl Vicky Hall, who was abducted and murdered in 1999.

The Archant-owned paper joined forces with Vicky’s family to raise £100,000 which, together with a grant of £210,000 from the Football Foundation, has enabled Trimley Red Devils FC to build a new pavilion.

The club, of which Vicky’s father Graham is president and mother Lorinda club secretary, now has a new facility to benefit the community and remember Vicky.

Evening Star editor Nigel Pickover visited the family in the days immediately after Vicky’s murder to offer any help the newspaper and the community could give.

He said: “I felt that we, as a community, should do whatever we could to try and help this terribly distraught and hurting family.

“They have been incredible over the past five years and I know everyone admires them so much for everything they have done for the appeal. We cannot pay tribute to them enough for their hard work and the way they have been behind the project.

“I know Graham and Lorinda, and their son Steven, are overwhelmed with the appeal’s success and the massive support and love they have received from the community.

“Their world was changed forever when Vicky was taken, and life will never be the same for them – they can never forget what happened, and that is with them every day. Losing a child is every parent’s biggest nightmare. No amount of time will ever remove that pain.

“But as a newspaper and a community we have been there for them and this memorial pavilion will ensure Vicky’s name is remembered forever.”

The memorial was officially opened by Ipswich Town boss Joe Royle at an event which saw a team of stars from the club’s past and future play a Red Devils side which included Vicky’s brother Steven.

Nigel, and the paper’s Felixstowe editor Richard Cornwell, along with club chairman Bob Race, joined Graham and Lorinda as trustees, driving the appeal along, applying for grants, and co-ordinating the pavilion’s design and construction.

As well as money from a huge variety of fundraising events organised by the community, the appeal received grants from the Port of Felixstowe, parish and district councils, Trinity College, and Suffolk Environmental Trust.

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