A kindhearted mum tracked down a family who left a theatre show early due to people staring at them – and gifted them a new set of tickets.
Emily Burke, 32, was devastated to see Noor Stevens and her three children leaving the Beauty and the Beast production at the Sunderland Empire due to the looks they were getting from others sitting near them.
Noor, 35, said her son Declan had opened a bottle of fizzy pop which exploded and her daughter Scarlett, eight, was singing and dancing along to Friday's performance.
Scarlett and her six-year-old sister Harriett were dressed in yellow Belle gowns while Declan wore a shirt and bow tie for the big theatre event.
But they were forced to leave during the interval due to the reaction in the audience and missed the end of the show, reports Teesside Live.
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Emily, from Bishop Auckland, County Durham, was so sad to see Noor's children leave early that she put up a post on Facebook offering to pay for them to see it again.
The project manager had attended the show in Sunderland with her mother after receiving tickets as a Christmas present from her children Lorcan, four, and Orla, two.
She was able to trace the family of four thanks to social media and generously purchased them front row tickets for them to return next month.
Emily said: "There were lots of little girls in Belle outfits and it was quite cute.
"I noticed a little girl a few rows ahead of us getting really into the show. She was dancing and singing, it was absolutely beautiful.
"But I could see the looks that people give you when your kids are not acting the way they'd like them to. I noticed a young couple sat next to them get up and leave or move."
Emily recalled seeing the children's mum get up and take them out of the theatre.
"She had her coat on," she continued.
"The little boy was sobbing. I thought they are leaving because of the way that everyone was looking at them.
"I could hear people chuntering about it. A grown man walked past and said "thank f*** they've gone'.
"I thought, 'you're a grown man at a children's Disney production.' I get that it's expensive but she paid for the tickets as well.
"It was awful. I just felt really depressed for the kids that they weren't going to see the rest of the show and upset at the way people were reacting."
Emily said her mother was heartbroken to see the young children miss out on the show's "magical" ending and she poured her energy into putting things right.
In a Facebook post, she told how she would like to personally pay for the family to revisit the show "maybe a matinee with less grumpy adults."
In less than two days, she had tracked down Noor thanks to the appeal which was shared around 2,000 times.
She said: "I woke up to a couple of messages saying I think this is the lady and it was. It was amazing, I didn't think I would find her.
"I don't think she believed me. She said 'you don't have to do that' and I said 'honestly I want to, I'm going to. I have put a lot of effort in to finding you'.
"It was just the right thing to do. My tickets were free because they were a present from the kids. I'd like to think that someone else would have done the same."
Noor said she had spent £220 on four £55 tickets as her children liked the film and had previously enjoyed visiting the pantomime.
The mum, who works in home care, said: "Scarlett really loves to dance.
"The lady next to her moved seats and I felt bad because the tickets were so expensive.
"After the drink exploded I thought the people in front aren't going to be happy.
"I was just thinking about the price of the tickets. It's the sort of person I am, I always put other people first."
