A seven year-old girl has raised £1,100 to help support a rescued Staffordshire bull terrier.

Cambs Times: Ellie Sponsored Dog Walk. Picture: Barry Giddings.Ellie Sponsored Dog Walk. Picture: Barry Giddings. (Image: Copyright: Barry Giddings)

Dog-made Ellie-May Ridgeon is a volunteer dog walker for a rescue charity run from the Pet Shop in March and took a terrier, called Buster, out on a sponsored walk as part of her fund raising efforts.

Her mum Shelley said: “I’m very proud of what Ellie has accomplished. In fact I’m almost ecstatic because of how much she raised.”

Mrs Ridgeon said her daughter was unwell on the day of the walk but refused to let it get it in the way of the planned walk through the town.

Along route they supported a stall on the market set up to boost the charity and got local traders to offer prizes for a raffle.

“People were amazing,” said Mrs Ridgeon. “One shop even had a huge banner of support over the front.”

A group of volunteers rallied to help the fund raising which netted four times the amount Ellie had set as her target.

Her mum said: “Ellie really loves dogs; we have two dogs at home, Bella, a British bull dog and Diesel, a rescued Staffie.”

J J Rescue and Canine Rehab are run by Rob “Haggis” Phipps, who runs the Pet Shop March Discount Warehouse and a pet shop in Station Road, March.

Mrs Ridgeon said: “The centre deals with dogs that other people have given up on. The dogs are rehabilitated, then vaccinated, wormed, micro-chipped and neutered before they are re-homed.

“Mr Phipps is mainly funding the work himself, and Ellie-Mae decided to raise money after becoming a volunteer dog walker at weekends and during school holidays.”