Alexander (centre) with friends, dad Sandy, head teacher Mrs Rachel Davis (left) and Julie Robinson.
Dedicated youngsters have raised over £1,500 in memory of a ‘well-loved’ teaching assistant and pupil’s mother who passed away.
Alexander Dinnes, a Year Four pupil at Little Sutton Primary School, wanted to raise the money in memory of mum Aileen Dinnes, who had breast cancer.
After holding a cake sale and an enterprise week at the school, the eight-year-old and some of his friends donated £1518.51 to Breakthrough, a breast cancer charity Aileen had been part of.
Head teacher Mrs Rachel Davis said: “It is quite remarkable that Alex has been able to afford such kindness and compassion for others during such a difficult time.
"We are so proud of him in raising this fantastic amount. He came up with the idea of a cake sale and with the help of his friends organised the event.
“It is a lovely tribute to his mum and in doing so he will have helped make a difference to the lives of other ladies suffering from breast cancer."
Alexander and pals decided to hold a cake sale at playtime to raise money for Breakthrough Breast Cancer.
As well as this, all the children at the school took part in an enterprise week where they were given a loan to buy resources and they then created objects to sell to make a profit.
This year the children decided that they would give half of all profits to the charity to add to the amount Alexander had made in the cake sale.
Deputy head Mrs Nicola Arkinstall explained: “Alexander’s mum had breast cancer when he was a baby but got over it. She was then heavily involved in the charity because they had helped her when she was going through it.
“Last year it came back but unfortunately it had spread through her body and she died very quickly after finding out she had cancer.
“She was well loved by all the staff and parents at the school. She had carried out lots of voluntary work at the school and worked as a teaching assistant.”
Alexander and his friends presented the cheque to the charity this week.
Speaking after collecting the cheuque, Julie Robinson, chair of the charity, said: “We are so pleased to receive such a generous donation for Breakthrough Breast Cancer from Alexander and the children of Little Sutton School.
“Alexander’s cake sale was a huge success and a lovely way to remember his mum who raised thousands of pounds as a much valued, and very much missed, member of our charity group – Breakthrough Sutton Coldfield.
“We are very honoured that the children chose to donate to our charity from their Enterprise Week. This will help Breakthrough’s research to save lives and beat breast cancer for good.”
