A mum tracked down a family from Sunderland who left a theatre show early due to people staring at them - and paid for their tickets so they could return.
Noor Stevens and her three children were watching Beauty and the Beast at the Sunderland Empire on Friday but left early due to the looks they were getting from people sitting around them.
The 35-year-old said her daughter Scarlett, eight, was singing and dancing along with the show and her four-year-old son Declan had opened a bottle of fizzy pop which had exploded, Teesside Live reports.
Go here for more Sunderland news and updates from Sunderland Live
After seeing the family leave, fellow mum Emily Burke, 32, from Bishop Auckland, County Durham, was devastated to see the family, including Noor's daughter Harriett, six, leave and miss the end of the show.
The kind-hearted mum-of-two took to Facebook to try and find the family, offering to pay for them to see it again.
And with the power of social media, she managed to find Noor and her family and purchased front row tickets for the four of them to return to next month.
Emily, who is mum to Lorcan, four, and Orla, two, was attending the show in Sunderland with her mam after receiving tickets as a Christmas present from her children.
The project manager 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.
"At the interval I noticed the mam get up and take them out, she had her coat on. 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.
"My mam said 'I loved it so much, it breaks my heart that the little boy and the little girls didn't get to see the ending, it was magical!'"
Emily has previously raised money for charity by shaving off her hair and sleeping rough on the streets of London.
After the show, she decided to try and track down the family, who she had never met, down, by putting up a post on Facebook.
In her post, she said: "I can only apologise to that family for the rudeness.
"I would personally like to pay for her and those children to revisit the show, they deserve to feel like I did seeing it through to the end (maybe a matinee with less grumpy adults!)"
Emily said her online post was shared around 2,000 times and it took her less than two days to track down Noor.
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'. 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 spent £220 on four £55 tickets as her children liked the film and had previously enjoyed visiting the pantomime.
On the night of the show, Scarlett and Harriett were dressed in yellow Belle gowns and her son was wearing a shirt and bow tie.
Noor, 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."
Noor said that a couple of people she knew saw Emily's post on Facebook and sent her it.
She has now praised Emily for her generosity.
Noor said: "I was really shocked, I was thinking how lovely.
"It was sweet of her to do something like that.
"When I spoke to her she seemed like such a lovely person.
"She wanted us to see the magical bit at the end of the show.
"I want to say a huge thank you to Emily."
