This Saturday, a heartbroken father is going to a gig in York he should have been attending with his daughter – and he has a special request for the star of the show.
The family of Mariella Rose, an inspiring young woman who touched everyone who knew her, are hoping for one very special moment at Tom Grennan’s sold-out concert at York Racecourse.
Just six weeks before her 18th birthday, Mariella was tragically killed in a road accident near Everingham, between Pocklington and Holme-on-Spalding-Moor.
To celebrate turning 18, Mariella had planned to attend the York concert with her closest friends and her dad – a tradition that had become something uniquely theirs.
She was thrilled that Tom Grennan was finally performing in her home city after the pair had travelled across the UK and Europe to see him perform over the previous three years.
Now, instead of celebrating with Mariella, her father and her friends will attend the concert in her memory.
The family has one simple wish: that Tom Grennan might acknowledge Mariella’s name or dedicate either “A Little Bit of Love” or “Please Remind Me” to her during the performance.
‘Beautiful young lady’
Mariella was a student at Askham Bryan College studying uniform public services. She wanted to be a police officer and was a Humberside Police cadet based in Beverley.
The 17-year-old was driving from her home village east of York to her job at Shiptonthorpe McDonald’s at around 3.40pm on Monday 30 March when the crash happened.
Her Chevrolet travelling eastbound was in collision with a tractor.
Mariella’s father Chris said: “She was a very good driver, but where it is in Everingham, as you come through it’s a blind bend, and there’s a whole hedge that’s taller than a tractor.”
He was alerted that something was wrong when McDonald’s rang to say she hadn’t arrived for her shift.
Trying to find out what happened, he drove the same route. “And I came to the scene of the crash. So it’s been tragic for us. It’s been absolutely tragic.”
Mariella “was the most beautiful young lady,” Chris told YorkMix. “She had the biggest heart and would do anything for anybody – but would not suffer fools. What was right was wrong. What was wrong was wrong, and she knew the difference.
“She had a real strength and she had a real belief.”
‘Special connection’
Mariella was diagnosed as dyslexic when she was 14 and on receiving the results she said she was, “relieved, as if they had said I didn’t have dyslexia I would go through life thinking, what is wrong with me?”
She then discovered that Tom Grennan was also dyslexic.
Knowing someone she admired had faced similar challenges gave her confidence to embrace her diagnosis and become an advocate for others living with dyslexia.
Mariella first met Tom in 2023 after winning tickets to a Comic Relief recording. She literally bumped into him afterwards while he was out for a run. He stopped to chat, listened as she spoke about her dyslexia, and left a lasting impression through his kindness and generosity.
From that day on, Mariella became one of his biggest supporters.
She persuaded her dad to go with her to Berlin for an intimate theatre performance. In August 2025 she met Tom again at a Leeds show and signing, where she and a friend brought teddy bears for him to sign.
Later that year, father and daughter travelled to Brussels to see him once more. They appear together on Tom Grennan’s official Facebook page, singing along to “A Little Bit of Love” and making heart signs during the performance – capturing memories her family will treasure forever.
At that concert, Tom opened up about his struggles to the audience. Chris, a former volunteer with the Samaritans, and Mariella, who volunteered at East Yorkshire Mind, then talked to him about mental health issues after the gig.
Chris recalled: “He’d said on stage, ‘I don’t feel my music’s good enough’. And I said, ‘Tom, don’t ever say your music’s not good enough because your music has got my daughter through some very difficult times in her life.
“‘There’s millions of other kids that will be listening to that and getting your message of strength’. We met him for about 20 minutes, and we all hugged. He and Mariella had a massive cry together. So there was a real special connection there.”
Funeral song
More than 300 family members, friends and colleagues gathered at Beverley Minster for Mariella’s funeral, where they celebrates her life. Those attending included friends from Askham Bryan College, fellow Humberside Police Cadets and colleagues from McDonald’s in Shiptonthorpe.
As her final journey began, the music chosen for the crematorium was “A Little Bit of Love”—her favourite Tom Grennan song.
This Saturday, her dad and friends will stand at the front of the York Racecourse crowd where Mariella had always planned to be. They’ll be wearing yellow T-shirts bearing her name.
“I’m a big bloke, and I will really struggle on Saturday. I can’t listen to music – and I work in music,” he said.
“Music was on in every single room in this house. It’s not been on since, so it’s going to be really emotive for me. It’s going to be a real struggle.”
A simple mention of her name by Tom, or a dedication of the song that meant so much to her, would create a moment her family and friends would never forget.
Chris said: “The reason I’m doing it, I want to keep my daughter’s name alive. People die twice. People die when they die, and they die when you stop saying the name.
“And for me, my selfish thing is I want to keep my daughter’s name alive because she was the most beautiful person, and I want everybody in the world to know.”
Good cause
Following her death, Mariella’s family established the Mariella Rose Foundation, which exists to advance equality of opportunity for young people with dyslexia by reducing financial and social barriers to diagnosis, support and achievement.
The foundation aims to ensure that other young people receive the encouragement and support that helped Mariella find her confidence.
It has already raised £15,000. You can donate to the cause at the JustGiving page here.
Chris said it costs families £500 to get their child assessed and diagnosed with dyslexia.
“Some families do not have that kind of money. The child is sitting in the bedroom, not not knowing, as Mariella said, what is wrong with me.
“There’s nothing wrong with you. It’s just how you think and how you process your processing is just different.”
As the JustGiving page says: “Mariella was a true champion and ambassador for dyslexia and we want to continue her support for other young people and their families, her encouragement for others to believe in themselves and to achieve their dreams.”
