By Peter Devine

A DERKER ten-year-old has become the ‘poster girl’ for Dr Kershaw’s Hospice.

Keira Arnold, the current national young fundraiser of the year, was surprised after hospice staff greeted her at the gates while dropping off the latest money raised by her ‘Keira’s Wishes’ campaign.

The staff wanted to acknowledge the amazing work that Keira does and the fact that she not only collected the national award but was also honoured at the first GM Health and Social Care Awards by winning Mayor Andy Burnham’s special contribution award.

To mark the occasion they had a giant banner made to mark the double award win and the shock on the face of the youngster when the banner was revealed was amazing.

Keira said: “I couldn’t figure out what was going on. I saw the crowd of people when I pulled into the car park with my grandma but didn’t think it was for me.

“Then when I got out of the car I saw my mum and my baby brother and was totally confused. It is great to see the banner and to know that everyone who drives into and past the hospice on Turf Lane will get to see it.”

Fundraiser David Whaley said the fundraising and nursing teams wanted to do something special to mark Keira’s achievement.

“It is not every day we have the national young fundraiser in the year from Oldham. We are very proud of Keira and wanted to tell the world that!

“Our facilities team has built new boarding near the gates so that we can display our event banners without them flapping about in the wind and Keira’s banner will take pride of place.”

So far, Keira has topped £6,000 with her innovative fundraising.

She will be selling her latest merchandise – Unicorn Dreamcatchers – at the Hospice’s annual Duck Race that takes place in Chadderton Hall Park on Saturday (August 11).