Thirsk schoolgirl, 10, raises £1,200 for Freddie with sponsored silence

Ava Shackleton, 10, of Thirsk, North Yorkshire raised the money for the Freddie’s Fight campaign, whose family are hoping to fund potentially life-saving treatment, for three-year-old Freddie Thompson.

Ava, who is described as a ‘talkative character,’ came up with an idea to raise a little under £500 through a sponsored silence.

But after weeks of garnering support from the town of Thirsk, the Year 6 pupil at Thirsk Community School has doubled her original goal and successfully completed 12 hours of silence.

Kelly Shackleton, Ava’s mother said: “We printed off the posters of the sponsored silence and put them around the town – we laminated it and put it in my shop too.

“Ava hated the thought of a young boy being poorly, and said she would have wanted other people to raise money for her if it was her position.”

FREDDIES FIGHT: Ava Shackleton of Thirsk raised more than £1,200 for Freddie

Ms Shackleton, owner of Love Thy, Thirsk, said in the days leading to the sponsored silence, Ava was keen to visit the shop to promote Freddie’s cause to customers.

Ms Shackleton said: “All the customers know Ava from social media.

“Ava sometimes does videos where she recommends the products – there’s a lot of people that know her, everyone has been really supportive. Someone even said ‘Oh my god if she does that, I will give her £100’.”

Deciding on a suitable day for Ava to partake her sponsored silence, Ms Shackleton said the school were happy for it to be done during school.

Ava remained silent from 7am to 7pm, throughout school and an after-school revision club.

Ms Shackleton added: “During what would have been her break, she choose one of her friends to sit with her for company, and she had lunch with a teacher so she didn’t really have a break time. “From school she went straight to her revision club, from there I picked her up and went home, where she stayed silent.”

Ava’s success has contributed to an already growing, £60,000, which has been raised for the campaign.

• Freddie's Fight campaign smashes £60,000 mark - Family thanks the public

Richard Chandler Thirsk Community Primary School headteacher said: “Ava is a fantastic member of our school who is well know for enjoying a good chat with her friends, so for her to have spent the entire day without speaking shows how committed she is to raising money for this important cause.”