EMBSAY teenager Alice Halstead will start a season of walks for Diabetes UK to celebrate how she is coping one year after she was diagnosed with the condition.

Sixteen-year-old Alice, of Millholme Rise, was told she had type one diabetes in June last year.

Since then she has braved daily insulin injections, regular medical appointments and missed time off school through hospital stays.

The Skipton Girls' High School pupil, who has been classed as an "unstable diabetic", has only recently returned from a period in Leeds General Infirmary.

But this has not deterred her from taking part in the three-mile Harrogate Walk in the Park on Saturday.

Organisers have been so inspired by Alice that they have asked her to launch the event, which starts at Harlow Carr Gardens.

She said: "I'm quite excited about it. It's a year since I was diagnosed and I wanted to do the walk to show that I can do anything."

The teenager has been sponsored by TV chef Antony Worrall Thompson, who is also diabetic.

Alice, who is now fitted with a new insulin pump, will have to repeat year 11 as she has missed so much time through having diabetes and then suffering from glandular fever.

Since she was diagnosed, Alice has had to get to grips with a routine of complex injections, blood glucose monitoring, regular eating times and endless pieces of information to absorb.

She said she had been able to do this with the help of paediatric diabetes specialist nurses Alison Blackie and Donna Bladen at Airedale General Hospital and advice and education from Diabetes UK.

She said: "I wanted to raise money for Diabetes UK and Walk in the Park seemed a great idea.

"My mum is a childminder so we decided to invite the children - eight in total and their parents - as the children have been so interested in my condition.

"As a thank you, mum is going to provide a party picnic in the park to finish the event."