A schoolgirl smashed her target to raise £10 for a local charity by donating £316 to the Emily Harris Foundation.

Mollie, 8, the daughter of a King’s Mill Hospital nurse, was set the challenge to raise £10 for charity as part of the Embark Federation Trusts Award scheme.

She chose the Emily Harris Foundation, a charity that supports the Neonatal Unit at King’s Mill Hospital, Sutton, after three of her family’s friends had a baby on the unit and received support from the charity.

Mollie, who is a pupil in year 3 at Riddings Junior School, Derbyshire, decided to sell pictures that she had drawn while sitting outside her Riddings home during the half-term school holidays and her efforts proved to be so popular that she exceeded her fundraising target within hours and was even taking commissions and completing bespoke orders!

The youngster’s mum, Rachael Abbott, who works as a nurse on Ward 25 at the hospital, said she was a proud mum after her daughter came up with the idea herself and dedicated her half-term to making so many people smile with her drawings.

Clare Harris, manager of the foundation, said: “As a small charity, we are solely reliant upon the generosity of others in their fundraising and for Mollie to choose to raise money for us in this way is wonderful.

“She has done incredibly well and is such a lovely girl. I was delighted to be able to present her with a certificate and teddy in recognition of her achievement and in return she kindly gave me one of her fabulous pictures.”

For more information about the Emily Harris Foundation or how you can get involved in fundraising for the charity, visit www.emilyharrisfoundation.org or find it on Facebook