A KIND hearted Kingsmead schoolgirl has been collecting as many pennies as possible to give to a Northwich children’s charity.

Evie McDonald, five, decided she wanted to help other children so started to collect loose change in plastic bottles.

She gathered £46 and presented it to The Joshua Tree, a charity set up by a Northwich family to help other families with children being treated for life-threatening illnesses.

Evie’s mum Beverley said: “She just said to me ‘I want to save pennies in bottles for children that haven’t got any pennies, which was a very sweet idea.

“She was only saving for five or six weeks and had everyone on a mission doing it – grandparents, family members, friends.

“She’s hoping she will raise more next time – she’s got another six bottles and she’s still going.”

Beverley said she was not sure what inspired Evie, a pupil at St Vincent’s RC Primary School, on her charitable course but that when they discovered The Joshua Tree they were both determined to help.

The charity was set up by Lynda and Dai Hill, from Redgate, after their son Josh was diagnosed with leukaemia in 2004.

While he was being treated they realised how hard it was to do normal things like go on family holidays because of the risk of infection, and the idea of building a safe holiday home was born.

“I thought that maybe they had done something about it at school but they couldn’t think where her idea had come from,” Beverley said.

“So we sat down and went through the internet together and I said to her it would be nice if it was a local charity.

“We looked at a few different ones but she was absolutely adamant that The Joshua Tree was the one she wanted it to go to.”

For more information about The Joshua Tree click here.

  • A SERIES of fundraising coffee mornings have been planned by Winsford kitchen showroom.

Howdens Joinery, based in Winsford Industrial Estate, is offering tea, coffee and cakes until noon every Saturday until September 21 to raise money for The Joshua Tree.

The company is giving away free cookery books at the coffee mornings and will donate £1 to The Joshua Tree for everyone who attends.

Jo-Anne Broadbent, manager of the depot, in Road One, said: “We’re hoping to get to a target of £300, and hopefully more.”

Howdens has also raised £200 for the Cheshire East Deaf Society through a raffle for its customers.