A ten year old girl, Bethan Rees, from Usk, has become a charity fund raising champion.

Bethan has become the youngest fundraiser for the charity, Tommy's, which funds medical research into the causes of premature births, stillbirths and miscarriages. 

Bethan spent the weekend of her town's Christmas celebrations collecting for Tommy's. Showing Blue Peter a thing or two about arts and crafts, Bethan made badges and Christmas gift tags, together with a box to display the gifts. At the end of her fantastic fundraising activities Bethan raised £59.71.

Tommy's, which aims to give every baby the best chance of being born healthy, has a special importance to Bethan.  Her mother was hospitalised two months prior to the birth suffering from pre-eclampsia, a life threatening pregnancy complication.

Bethan was born two months early by caesarean section, weighing just 3lb 5oz when her mother became too ill to continue with the pregnancy.

It was thanks to the excellent care and support from the staff at Macclesfield hospital in Cheshire, that Bethan was able to thrive after a lengthy four week stay in hospital.

Bethan explained why she wanted to get involved with the Tommy's cause:

"We were very lucky to be looked after so well and to be ok and I wanted to help other babies and their parents and to try to stop it happening."

Bethan's mother, Nicky Rees, said about her daughter's fundraising:

"Bethan has a very mature and caring nature and thinks about others a lot. It was very important to her to do something to say thank you and a good way to do that seemed to be to help raise money for Tommy's which can help prevent it happening to others. This was all her own idea and I'm very proud of all the hard work she has put in to raising money for Tommy's."

Emma Carlisle, Events and Community Fundraiser for Tommy's commented:

"We are very thankful to Bethan for helping raise money for Tommy's and she has done really well and should be very proud of the hard work that has been put in. Tommy's need people like Bethan who support the charity's work to get involved and help give babies the best chance of being born healthy.

With one in four women losing a baby in pregnancy or birth there is still such a great deal of work to be done. Tommy's are always looking at new research which will help us get to our goal of halving the number of babies that die by 2050. The money raised by our fundraisers is vital to help us reach this target.

Tommy's is fortunate to have a fantastic group of fundraisers throughout the country that help raise money for the charity every year. From sponsored bike rides, running marathons and black tie balls, there are so many different ways for people to play a part in the Tommy's work. If you are thinking of fundraising next year, please get in touch and get involved!"