RUBBER band fan Caitlin Ives has weaved a welcome £100 for charity thanks to her creative skills with loom bands.

Caitlin, nine, turned her love for the colourful band craze into a money-making business to raise cash for charity.

After selling her loom band bracelets for £1 each, Caitlin, a pupil at Eversley Primary School, in Pitsea, collected £100, which she split between Macmillan Cancer Support and Basildon Hospital’s Orsett Ward.

Thoughtful Caitlin set to work on the loom bands after a family friend, who has since passed away, was cared for on Orsett Ward which looks after cancer patients.

The ward has spent Caitlin’s donation on a new train set to keep young visitors to the ward occupied.

Stuart Cross, senior charge nurse on the ward, said: “I was so pleased when Caitlin contacted me and told me she wanted to make this donation.

“A lot of people think about the patients and do kind things for them, which is lovely, but the nature of the care we provide on this ward means many young visitors spend a long time here with family members.

It’s a great distraction for them to have nice toys to playwith.”

He added: “It’s not just children playing with the train set, but grown-ups too, and even one of the doctors was seen taking a turn.”