Northamptonshire village's community spirit helps raise £10,000 in aid of pupil diagnosed with brain tumour

The staff, students and families at Long Buckby Infant School were inspired to fundraise for their Year One pupil, six-year-old Finley-Eska, who is receiving ongoing treatment at Birmingham Children’s Hospital.

Finley-Eska was diagnosed with a brain tumour in May 2017. After various rounds of treatment in the UK, and further treatment in America, Finley-Eska is now back at school but continuing his treatment at the Birmingham hospital.

After learning about Finley-Eska's medical care, a small group of school staff set themselves a £1,000 fundraising target to help their pupil and his family with the treatment in America.

After more and more people in the local community got involved Long Buckby Infant School went on to exceed their target and raise £10,058.

Sarah Dugdale, headteacher at Long Buckby Infant School, said: “We’re so pleased with how the fundraising has gone so far and we can’t thank the local community enough for getting behind Finley-Eska and his family.

"What started off as a small group of us wanting to help a pupil has turned into something so much more”.

“We hope the money we’ve been able to donate to the charity will enable the hospital to continue to care and support families like Finley-Eska’s in the future.”

The incredible fundraising feat was more than enough to help with the cost of flights to America.

Long Buckby Infant School then donated £5,000 from the rest of their fundraising to Birmingham Children’s Hospital Charity as a thank you for continuing to look after Finley-Eska.

Miranda Williams, public fundraising manager at Birmingham Children’s Hospital Charity, said: “We’d like to say a huge thank you to all of the staff and pupils at Long Buckby Infant School who got involved in fundraising for Finley-Eska.

"The village has shown a real community spirit by getting behind the family and doing all they can to help.

“The money they’ve raised will make a massive difference to the lives of our brave children and their families on Ward 10, where Finley-Eska is treated.”

To raise the funds, the school hosted a range of activities including a pyjama day, singing in the village, arts and crafts café and a raffle.

They also had an overwhelming amount of donations to their JustGiving page.