CANDLES were lit and flowers laid yesterday afternoon (Monday) in a poignant tribute to tragic Christchurch schoolgirl Jade Stoner on the exact anniversary of her death in a road accident outside her home.

The symbolic ceremony in the road outside her home was attended by family and friends.

It also marked the end of an emotional roller-coaster year for Jade's parents Debbie and John, who have used their own loss to help other families coping with tragedy.

Within hours of her death seven-year-old Jade's organs had been used in life-saving transplant operations for four seriously ill youngsters and the example inspired members of her family and their friends to carry organ donor cards and become blood donors.

Surplus funds raised from an appeal through the Daily Echo to help fund a gravestone have been used to launch a memorial trust to help other bereaved parents and a donation was made towards the memorial for Purbeck teenager Matthew Myburgh, who drowned after he was washed out to sea at Lulworth Cove during a storm.

The Stoner family has spearheaded a local campaign to improve safety on the roads around the Somerford estate where a raft of traffic calming measures followed a 3,800-name petition to Christchurch council just weeks after the tragedy.

Jade has also been remembered with a garden and gazebo unveiled earlier this year at Somerford community primary school where she was a pupil.

"It has been a really, really tough year and if it hadn't been for the support of family and friends we would not have got through it as well as we have," said Mrs Stoner.

"I am definitely a stronger person than I was a year ago. Everyone has been absolutely fantastic and we are grateful for their support."

Although Jade was not officially pronounced dead until the following day when life support was switched off in hospital, Mrs Stoner said the family viewed the time of her death as the moment she suffered severe head injuries when her bicycle was in collision with a car.

"That's when we lit the candles," explained Mrs Stoner.