Emma’s dad Robbie said ahead of last night’s 150-guest VIP preview: “Kylie was one of Emma’s favourites, along with Ant and Dec and Sara Cox, and she would have loved this.

“Emma was famous for her geeky glasses and she wasn’t ashamed to wear them. She just loved to be different.

“She wore them for driving and reading and it’s fantastic that all these stars have supported us in this way.

“The Spectacle was Michael and Christine’s idea and they came to me and my wife Peggy with it.

“We said straight away that it was a great idea, and so it’s proved.”

Christine said: “Emma was well-known for wearing her chic geek glasses with pride.

“We want to celebrate and remember her and give people a fascinating exhibition to view.”

Michael added: “We’ve got 20 sponsors in place, which is brilliant, and Specsavers in Hexham are donating £1 for every eye test they carry out during the period of the exhibition, which is brilliant, too.

“It runs from today in the ground-floor gallery at the Queen’s Hall until the auction here on March 13. We’re optimistic we’ll be talking in terms of thousands of pounds raised.

“It has been one of the toughest challenges I’ve ever been involved with. By the first week of January we only had six pairs of specs for an exhibition starting in the middle of February.

“But it’s all worked out really well now, and it should be a real ... er ... spectacle.”