A PRIMARY school pupil from West End has collected nearly 18,000 crisp packets in a personal charity fundraising campaign.

That puts nine-year-old Grace Gerrish well on the way to hitting her target of amassing 40,000 empty snack bags to raise money for brain tumour research.

Grace, who goes to Holy Trinity School in West End, was inspired to support Ellie’s Fund by her grandmother, Susan Gerrish, from Bisley.

“Gran showed me the Ellie’s Fund Facebook page and I thought it was a good cause to help,” said Grace. “It’s a shame to throw away things that can be used to make some money.”

The fund is named after a girl who died after being diagnosed with an aggressive brain tumour at the age of 11. The crisp packets are recycled into pellets which are used for manufacturing new plastic products.

Grace’s collection so far, stored in the grandparents’ garage with the help of grandad Charles, weighs 36 kilos. It will be sent off to Ellie’s Fund in 8 kilo batches.

The main collection point in West End is West End Butchers in Gosden Road. They will accept individual crisp and similar snack packets, plus multi-pack bags and the larger bags from snacks such as Kettle Chips.

Grace is already thinking of her next charity project when her crisp packet target is reached. She also feels it is a shame that ballpoint pens are usually thrown away when empty – and Ellie’s Fund also takes plastic writing instruments for turning into money for research.

For the full story get the 2 January edition of the News & Mail