Young girl raises more than £2k for good causes

Courtney Blair has brought in more than £2,000 for the two causes, smashing her initial goal of £500.

In September, The Standard reported on how, each year, Courtney raises funds for BBC Children in Need, but this year would be supporting an extra cause – her close friend Ebony Kirk.

Ebony, from Scunthorpe, has been undergoing chemotherapy for muscle cancer and in the New Year will begin radiotherapy.

Courtney held weekly table top sales from September to December as part of this year’s goodwill drive.

Helped by donations from the Skegness Ex-servicemen’s Club (which matched the £250 Courtney raised at a table top fundraiser at the venue) and a £200 sum from a Canadian resident unknown to her, plus support from her school, Skegness Academy, Courtney’s fundraising total finished at £2,120 - £1,060 for each cause.

Courtney’s mum Gayle Blair, 48, said Courtney was ‘over the moon’ with the amount.

The fundraising drive saw Courtney and Ebony invited to attend a live Children in Need event in Bridlington.

“It was a lovely day,” said Gayle. “They were treated like royalty.”

Courtney, Gayle explained, has been fundraising for Children in Need since she was about five or six, with the first year seeing her sell pictures she had drawn on a stall at a village pub.

More fundraising is planned for 2017, with table top sales scheduled to re-start from May.

Gayle said: “I’m so proud of her Not only for her achievements this year, but everything she does. She has not got a bad bone in her body.”