FAMILY and friends of Bradford campaigner Yvonne Hutchinson, whose life achievements included securing £3m to regenerate a rundown city estate, are to publish her edited memoirs as a lasting tribute.

Black Sheep, re-calling the strifes and successes of the 50-year-old, will be out on June 1 and proceeds from the book will all go to a fresh-start charity for the homeless run by her pastor sister Rose.

Yvonne died of cancer on April 8, three weeks after being re-united with the daughter she gave up for adoption three decades ago because of her once chaotic lifestyle. She also has a son, Paul, who is 32.

Her early years were troubled, she spent time in care, was groomed by older men and lived on the streets until she turned her life round aged about 25 and became a Christian.

"She went from one extreme to another. All the things you hear about happening to young girls now, all the grooming, happened to her. She lived on Lumb Lane a lot, lived on the streets, was homeless - it's all in the book. But she completely turned her life round to be nationally recognised for her social and housing campaigning. Becoming a Christian flicked the switch for her," said her sister Marcia Hutchinson, an entrepreneur and education expert awarded the MBE for services to cultural diversity.

The eighth of nine children born to Jamaican parents who migrated to Bradford in the 1950s, Yvonne Hutchinson graduated with a Peace Studies degree from Bradford University and then continued to live on the Ripleyville estate in West Bowling. She helped get £3m funding to regenerate the neighbourhood.

In1997, she was named one of her home city’s 100 local heroes for her voluntary community work with her portrait hung in the National Media Museum to celebrate Bradford’s Centenary.

Her 20 years in community development and regeneration included working in an advisory capacity with a range of government departments and leading research bodies.

From 1998 to 2005. she was a board member of the government regulator, The Housing Corporation being the only tenant actually living on a council estate to be represented.

As well as campaigning on social housing, she worked on drug awareness and to make legislative changes. She also worked to help prostitutes escape life on the streets.

However, in October 2014 she was diagnosed with aggressive cancer of the gallbladder which meant she became too ill to finalise a publishing deal for her book which family and friends finished editing for her.

Her sister Marcia Hutchinson said: "J K Rowling's publishers were interested but they wanted lots of changes to be made and she was not up for a book tour. They might still be interested but we just wanted to get her story out there."

Her funeral is on Friday, May 1 at 11.30am at Huddersfield Christian Fellowship in St Thomas Road, HD1 5LD.

To pre-order a copy of Black Sheep visit blacksheep42.wix.com/blacksheep