A PUPIL attending Lifton Primary School has raised more than £800 for the animals in Australia, by swimming 825 metres at his local swimming pool.

Six-year-old Freddie Bluett, who attends Lifton Primary School, made it his mission to raise money for the animals in Australia, whose habitats have been destroyed by the recent bushfires, while challenging his swimming abilities too.

Freddie is a keen swimmer, having first entered the water when he was just three days old in St Mellion International Resort’s ‘Water Babies’ class. He decided to utilise his talents to raise money for a cause close to his heart, after hearing about all the animals in Australia who had been injured, orphaned, made homeless or suffered in any way at the hands of the raging bushfires which devastated parts of the country in the new year.

The fundraising was quick thinking for Freddie, who had heard of people’s efforts in the UK to help the animals in Australia. He simply woke up one morning with the view of swimming between 200 and 500 metres to raise money.

Freddie has swimming lessons each week at St Mellion International Resort, making this the perfect place to do his sponsored swim.

On Thursday, January 23, after his regular swimming lesson, Freddie continued to swim in the pool, smashing his original target of 200 to 500 metres and swimming a whopping 825 metres overall!

By this point, Freddie’s fundraising total continued to soar, and was boosted even more on Friday, January 24, when he held an after-school cake sale at Lifton Primary School.

Armed with kangaroo-printed balloons and mountains of cake to feed the masses of pupils and parents in the school playground, Freddie, with the support of his mother Abi and father Pete, made £143.29 on the day, with his fundraising total now reaching £886.04.

A parent from the school also made Freddie his very own gold medal to proudly show off.

Pete explained more about his son’s fundraising venture: “The cake sale has gone really well, he’s done good! Freddie started swimming when he was three days old, and he’s been going since. The other day he received his 100 metre badge, which is amazing.

“He aimed for £100 on the fundraising page, and once all my clients and suppliers heard about it, it got to about £550 and we’ve still got about another £100 to come from donations.

“It happened pretty quickly. Freddie woke up on Tuesday morning and said he wanted to raise money for the animals in Australia. On his way to school beforehand, he heard a story on Pirate FM about a kid who was swimming 100 metres for the koalas. He said, that’s not fair — the money should go to all the animals, so he set himself the challenge there and then.”

The family are thankful for the support of the local community, which was made clear as people swarmed around the cake sale table in the playground.

Pete continued: “It’s been quite busy, and it’s been great to see all the support from people.

“We’d like to say thank you to St Mellion, Freddie’s swimming teacher Neil Hunn, the ‘Water Babies’ class, and the support shown by family, friends and suppliers. We are pretty proud.”

The fundraising page for Freddie is still open for donations.