Last Saturday, two children from Chewton Mendip held a fundraising ‘Nearly New Sale’ in Ston Easton Village Hall.

The event raised an incredible £671.62, which will be split between the World Wildlife Fund and Red Cross Australian Wildfire Disaster Funds.

Having seen the devastation caused by the wildfires in Australia to both animals and humans, Tilly (age 12) and Joshua (age 10) wanted to do something to help.

They organised the event in just three weeks and, with help from family and friends, approached companies for raffle donations, designed and distributed posters and social media posts, gathered donations of clothes, toys and books from friends, family and neighbours, baked cakes and biscuits and finally ran the event.

They were inspired to find out that Longleat gamekeepers were in Australia helping with the recovery efforts and would like to thank Longleat in particular for their support and the donation of a cuddly koala for the Guess the Name of the Koala competition – Karen was the winning name!

Tilly and Joshua would like to thank the following companies for donating raffle prizes: Mulberry, Van Dal Shoes, Longleat and East Somerset Railway. A huge thank you must also go to all the people who came on the day and spent their money to help this worthy cause. Sarah Ryrie