TWO sisters cooked up a way of raising money for local causes affected by the coronavirus crisis.

Grace and Willow Gregory, aged nine and five years old respectively, held a cake sale in their village in support of Margaret Green Animal Rescue and the NHS.

The two girls, from Puddletown, created their own posters and put them up around the village before spending two days baking the entire collection of cakes by themselves. They raised more than £300.

The girls’ mother, Lorraine Gregory, said: “They were desperate to come up with ideas to raise money for Margaret Green and the NHS, they eventually came up with the idea to do a cake sale.

"People from the village queued up to buy the cakes and they were giving incredible donations, one couple even gave £50. People were so generous as it was such a good cause and was easy to support.

"A lot of charities are in desperate need at the moment with the lack of fundraising events, so it was great to be able to give them some support."

Grace and Willow filled the stall with homemade Victoria sponge, brownies, flapjacks, scones, rock buns and more and sold out entirely within the hour.

The family pre-wrapped all of the cakes so there was no hand-to-hand transmission, they also wore protective gloves on and made sure everyone was staying two metres apart from each other to cooperate with social distancing guidelines.

Mrs Gregory continued: "They were given certificates from Margaret Green and were promised a free tour around the centre when the lockdown ends, to see what their fund raising has done. They did so well and managed to sell so many so quickly, it is an incredible amount of money for two little girls to raise.

"If we had more cakes we would have sold them, people were still knocking at the door for ages after we took the signs down.

"We were asked if we could do another one next week. They were so excited that they didn't sleep the night before so maybe not quite so soon but they'd definitely love to do it again at some point in the future."