A budding six-year-old poet from Rattlesden put pen to paper for a unique charity challenge – composing 20 poems in 20 days.

East Anglian Daily Times: Six-year-old Ella Brown who raised �1,185 for EACH and Yellow House Health and Outreach with her 20 poems in 20 days challenge, pictured with mum Michelle. PICTURE: GREGG BROWNSix-year-old Ella Brown who raised �1,185 for EACH and Yellow House Health and Outreach with her 20 poems in 20 days challenge, pictured with mum Michelle. PICTURE: GREGG BROWN

Ella Brown had been inspired to take on a fundraising challenge after money raising activities at her school, and inspiration from her mum Michelle.

But far from wishing to take on a traditional head shave or run, the creative Rattlesden Primary School pupil instead opted to put her poetic skills to the test by composing 20 poems over 20 days.

Proud mum Michelle Brown said: “She had wanted to do a fundraiser for some time – they do quite a lot at the school and last year I did some fundraising for Yellow House [Health Outreach] myself.

“She wanted to do something that wasn’t easy to do, but going for a run or a head shave wasn’t going to work so much for her.

“She had been writing two-line poems in the back of the car, and just developed that idea to post a poem every day.”

The remarkable youngster’s efforts didn’t go unnoticed, raising £1,185 to be split between East Anglia’s Children’s Hospices (EACH) and Yellow House – a grassroots charity run by a family friend which helps children in Kenya with speech and language therapy.

Ella’s busy efforts already came off the back of a charity challenge put to her to read 10 books in 10 days, raising £1,200 for good causes.

“It gave her something fresh to share every day,” Mrs Brown said.

“We are amazingly proud – we thought maybe we could raise a couple of hundred pounds but it just blew me away how much she wanted to do it.

“It made her think about others who aren’t as lucky, and being able to help others who need it.”

Ella took inspiration from anything and everything, including the wet weather, flowers in the garden and even the challenge itself.

Ella’s family also noticed that it helped developed her vocabulary by getting her to think about more advanced words, as well as learning about rhyming schemes and counting syllables, which they hope will inspire other children to give the challenge a go.

“She quite enjoys writing on her own terms,” Mrs Brown said.

“She is having a bit of a break from writing at the moment but she has a bit of a creative mind, which is what we were trying to encourage.”