Corrie Lee Stavers, 28, who grew up in Houghton-le-Spring, passed away following an accident at the Spanish City Summer FunfairCorrie Lee Stavers who died following a tragic accident at Spanish City Funfair in Whitley BayCorrie Lee Stavers who died following a tragic accident at Spanish City Funfair in Whitley Bay(Image: Northumbria Police)

The family of a Whitley Bay fairground worker with a ‘heart of gold’ is ‘still in shock’ after his tragic death. Corrie Lee Stavers, 28, who grew up in Houghton-le-Spring, passed away following an accident at the Spanish City Summer Funfair.

The emergency services attended the scene just after 2.15pm on Saturday afternoon, and despite the efforts of medical personnel, Corrie died after suffering serious head injuries a short time later. Now, his grieving family has launched a GoFundMe in order to lessen the financial burden on them at such a difficult time.

Corrie’s younger brother Jay-J, 24, has paid his own tribute, saying: “We never expected Corrie to go to work on Saturday and not come back, so we’re still in shock and are trying to come to terms with it. We were always close, I wanted to do everything that he did and I looked up to him.

“When he joined the boxing club, I wanted to as well, and he would always stick up for me with him being a few school years older. He always made sure I was ok and looked after me, and he was just generally a really supportive person.

(L-R) A photo of Corrie Lee Stavers with his brother Jay-J from 2019(L-R) A photo of Corrie Lee Stavers with his brother Jay-J from 2019(Image: Jay-J Stavers)

“Where we grew up in Houghton is quite a rough area, and day to day life isn’t necessarily easy, but he was always there for me. We used to spend a lot of time at the skate park, and we stayed close even when I moved out at 18.”

Even before Corrie’s sudden death, the family were still grieving the loss of their mum, who passed away last year. Jay-J remembers seeing the way this impacted Corrie, and went on to talk about how he found it hard to cope with her death.

Our ChronicleLive Daily newsletter is free. You can sign up to receive it here. It will keep you up to date with all the latest breaking news and top stories from the North East.

He continued: “Corrie definitely struggled for a few months after our mam died, but he had started working and getting happy again. He was always trying to do mam proud, and for this to happen after he had things back on track is devastating.

“He just had a heart of gold, he was never judgemental and he was a very loving and fantastic dad to his five-year-old son, that’s just who Corrie was. He had ADHD and was sometimes misjudged because of it, but I think that made him even more understanding of other people.”

(L-R) An old photo of Corrie Lee Stavers with his brother Jay-J from when they were growing up(L-R) An old photo of Corrie Lee Stavers with his brother Jay-J from when they were growing up(Image: Jay-J Stavers)

Corrie’s dad, Lee Stavers, also said: “Corrie would do anything for you, we used to have the neighbours coming round telling us how lovely of a lad he was. He was also a fantastic and devoted father, and he was so strong in the way that he battled back after losing his mam.

“Being at the fair and travelling with them is what he loved doing, so we were really happy to see that he had started back there again. If there is any extra money after the funeral it will be going into a trust-fund for his son, as we know that’s what he would have wanted, that’s just the amazing person and dad that he was.”

Jay-J added: “If anyone wants to donate to us then it would be hugely appreciated, as we weren’t prepared for this and never had a backup plan for Corrie if something like this happened. Anything you can spare would mean more to us than you can ever know.”

If you have read this story and would like to donate to the family’s GoFundMe, visit the page on the website here.

Join our Breaking News and Top Stories WhatsApp community

Join our Breaking News and Top Stories WhatsApp community for all the latest news direct to your phone.

To join you need to have WhatsApp on your device. All you need to do is choose which community you want to join, click on the link and press ‘join community’.

No one will be able to see who is signed up and no one can send messages except the ChronicleLive team.

We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners.

If you don’t like our community, you can check out any time you like. To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose ‘exit group’.

If you’re curious, you can read our privacy notice.

CLICK HERE TO JOIN