Barrow girl, 9, raises hundreds for St Mary's Hospice

On Saturday (July 13) Grace Shimmin took her speaker, microphone and St Mary's Hospice bucket to Portland Walk to sing and raise funds for the charity.

Singing her heart out for almost two hours, the nine-year-old touched the hearts of passers-by who helped with her cause to raise a total of £500.

Grace wanted to get funds for the hospice as they cared for her nana Marie Shimmin, who they lost a few years ago to cancer. Since then they have started doing fundraisers as the hospice always helped their family.

Grace's mother Rachel Shimmin said she was thrilled to exceed her £10 target.

Grace and her grandad Ricky Shimmin, Marie's husband (Image: Submitted)

"People just kept coming and put money in non-stop for the whole time. She did really well and she loved it," she said.

"She would do it again. She keeps telling me that I need to set her up a TikTok account now so she can put songs on it.

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"I am very proud. It was an emotional day for the family just to watch her. She (Marie) would have been super proud of her and I was amazed at how much she raised in an hour and a half just from an idea - it was brilliant."

Passer-by stopping to watch Grace singing (Image: Submitted) A spokesperson for St Mary's Hospice said: “We were all so proud of Grace. We have got to know her family quite well since cared for her Nana, and she's an absolute superstar. Some of our staff went down to watch and support her.

"Huge thanks to everyone who donated but, most of all, to Grace for being so brave and singing in front of all those people." 

Grace has also been invited to sing at the Walk to Remember event on September 6.

The nine-year-old shares a big music passion. She sings for a school band called Star Girls and has singing lessons with the local singer Becki Fishwick.