Southampton’s “real life Matilda” has raised over £800 for a community farm after it was hit by a break-in.
Lottie Holdsworth, seven, set herself the challenge of reading nine books in two weeks after hearing about a break-in at Oasis City Farm.
Six chickens were killed, enclosure locks were smashed, and fencing and woodwork were damaged around the farm.
Lottie was told of the farm's plight by her mum Natalie, 45, and set about trying to do some good.
She said she felt “positive and happy” about her success, and that she had even stood up in front of her class at Rownhams St John’s CE Primary School to tell them about it.
Lottie said she loved the farm “because all of the animals are lovely and friendly”.
She said: “I love holding the guinea pigs, my favourite animals are the guinea pigs and the goats, because the goats are funny and the guinea pigs are fluffy.”
Lottie added that she felt “really grateful” for all the donations.
Mum Natalie said: “I told Lottie all about it, she is very caring and can’t do enough for anyone, even at school.
“Straight away she was like, we need to give them some money.
“We call her our real life Matilda because she loves reading.
“She had a set of animals books that she hadn’t started yet so it was perfect.”
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Natalie said the books are each over 100 pages long but Lottie is on the way to smashing her target, having read five of the nine books in a week.
She said: “Lottie was straight in, she’s been taking the books to her afterschool club and she’s been getting up early to read.”
The fundraiser started with family, but soon grew after the farm posted about it on their Facebook.
In two days, Lottie doubled her funds from around £400 to over £800.
Natalie said: “I feel very proud to be honest, she’s an absolute credit to me anyway, but this is just typical Lottie, once she gets her teeth into something she does it 110 per cent.”
Tom Kitcher, Oasis City Farm manager, said Lottie's efforts were "inspirational".
He said: “It’s incredible really, absolutely incredible.
“The kindness in the response far outweighs the disappointment of the break-in.
“Lottie is inspirational, the fact that she has done it all by herself and is helping all the animals directly by doing that is amazing, we’re so grateful.”
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