THE family of missing chef Claudia Lawrence hope an awareness day may help bring an end to almost a year of agony.

On Friday, they will pull out all the stops to put the mystery firmly back in the public eye.

And they hope the effort will persuade someone to come forward with the information that could lead to a solution.

Miss Lawrence, who would have celebrated her 36th birthday this Saturday, disappeared without trace in March 2009 after finishing her shift at York University.

Detectives are now treating the case as suspected murder but her father, Peter Lawrence, is still hoping she will be found alive.

His friend and spokesman Martin Dales said yesterday: “Inevitably, Friday will be a difficult day for Peter, his family and Claudia’s friends, but there is a desire to make this a day of both celebration as well as concern for the fact that Claudia is still missing.

The waiting is agonising for everyone who loves and cares for Claudia.”

The awareness day will be centred on St Sampson’s Square in York and gets underway at 11.45am.

The Mayor of York, John Galvin, will be among those taking part and balloons bearing Claudia name tags will be released at 12.30pm.

The website findclaudia.

co.uk has a page where people can download a Claudia tag to attach to their balloons.

Miss Lawrence, whose parents come from Darlington, was raised in Malton and, at the time of her disappearance, lived in Heworth, York.

Anyone with information which could help the inquiry is asked to contact police on 0845-60-60- 247 or Crimestoppers, which is are offering a £10,000 reward, on 0800- 555-111.

■ The BBC’s Crimewatch programme will have an update on the case tomorrow, at 9pm.