Eight-year-old to run 5k for Children in Need after finding out what the charity does

Betty Caton

Betty Caton, a little girl from Milnrow, will be running 5k around Littleborough's Hollingworth Lake on 9 November to raise money for Children in Need.

Betty, eight, had wanted to know what Children in Need was and when mum, Cathy, explained Betty immediately wanted to donate her entire £12 of savings to the charity and do more.

She will be completing the run with her dad, Paul.

Mum Cathy said: “The support we’ve seen has been amazing and we’re looking forward to more donations.

“My daughters are always looking for ways to help other people, and as a parent I love to see that.”

Previously, Betty and her two sisters Violet and Sophie made 40 PPE headbands for NHS workers, which went to Birch Hill, Prestwich, and the Intensive Care Unit at Fairfield General Hospital.

As the trio could not leave the house, they turned to household items, including football shirts, teddy bears and old clothes, even spending some of their own pocket money to buy buttons.

Read more: Milnrow triplets sew PPE headbands for NHS workersPublished: 20 April 2020

The family received a pleasant surprise when they saw that they had £320 in donations on their justgiving page, far exceeding their original expectations of £100.

BBC Children in Need is the BBC's corporate charity. It funds over 3,900 local charities and projects which directly support children and young people affected by a whole range of disadvantages such as poverty, disability, illness, distress or trauma. 

This year, the annual appeal will be televised on Friday 13 November.

Betty’s justgiving page can be found and donated at:

• www.justgiving.com/fundraising/betty10krun