A ten-year-old girl has raised nearly £500 for charity after swimming the equivalent of Whitehill to Liphook in an East Hampshire pool.

Lillie Saxby is giving her arms and legs a well-deserved break after completing a two-day swimathon at Whitehill & Bordon Leisure Centre.

Participants were given the option of swimming 400, 1,000 or 2,500m in aid of Cancer Research and Marie Curie.

But the young fundraiser from Bordon went to even bigger lengths and decided to push herself with a 5k effort for the good causes. She was in the pool for 70 and 130 minutes over consecutive evenings at the end of March with school in-between.

The Bordon Junior School pupil set up a donation page before taking to the challenge like water off a duck’s back.

“Lillie swam the 5k but with eight laps to go it looked like an impossible task as her neck was hurting and she was in pain,” said her proud mother, Hannah.

“But with the help of family and friends, cheering her on, Lillie pushed through the pain and completed her tax.”

With adrenaline pumping and her supporters cheering her on at the poolside, Lillie completed the challenge and admitted to feeling emotional after reaching the end.

She said: “I just didn’t want to let people down, as my neck was really hurting and there was a couple of tears.”

Lillie has raised £410 plus £80 gift aid at the time of writing while her family and friends are “so proud of her”.

And even though her legs were aching after her marathon challenge, her fundraising exploits didn’t stop her from having her cake and eating it the next day.

That’s because she was on the stage in Petersfield with her Stagecoach performing arts school lifting the curtain on their ‘A great birthday’ production.