A DEDICATED six-year-old has raised more than £100 for babies on the Neonatal Unit at Colchester General Hospital.

Anna White-Cook wanted to raise money to help children after both she and her older brother Elliott, 14, spent time on the Neonatal Unit.

Her mum Claire said Elliott spent a month in hospital as he was born at 32 weeks.

She said: “Elliott was only 4lbs when he was born and the hospital was just amazing. I know they get bad press, but I have never had a problem and without them I wouldn’t have my children.

“Anna was born at 36 weeks and it was an 18-hour labour. She came out cold and blue, so she was taken into intensive care for the night.”

Anna, from Kirby, decided she wanted to make Christmas decorations to sell at her school’s Christmas fair. Her mum said: “She spent about three weeks making them. She had been building up to it over the year, they had been making things in school and so she decided to make decorations to sell.”

Anna, who attends Highfields Primary School, in Manningtree, managed to make £152 by selling her decorations at the fair, Silverton Aggregates, in Colchester, and Kirby Village Post Office.

Her mum added: “The money she made is not bad going considering she is a child with a pot of glitter and some clay. It took her some time,but she stuck with it and that’s what I am most proud of, even if she had only raised £2 it’s the fact she kept focussed.”

Anna was excited to go and visit the babies on NNU when she presented her cheque to staff.

It has inspired her to do more fundraising in the future.