Blue Peter badge for compassionate Wigan pupil
A six-year-old Wigan schoolgirl who turned charity superstar in response to family illnesses has landed a special prize.
April Stone Miller is now the proud owner of a Blue Peter badge after the legendary children’s television programme learnt of her amazing feats for good causes.
She is a pupil of St John’s CE Primary in Hindley Green and has been raising money for a number of good causes, including Wigan and Leigh Hospice and Cancer Research UK, since she was just four years old.
Her money-spinning efforts included doing star-jumps every day for a month and taking part in a Pretty Mudder assault course.
Parents Laura Miller and Carl Stone couldn’t be prouder and say she is amazingly driven and compassionate for one so young.
The pocket-sized fund-raiser from Hindley Green has already accrued more than £1,000 for good causes in the last couple of years.
It all started with a family conversation about April’s great-grandmother Margaret King who died from cancer in 2019 and was cared for in her final days by Wigan and Leigh Hospice.
Laura said: “April doesn’t really remember my grandma but they were close. She asked us if there was anything she could do and we said that people raised money for the hospice.
"So this idea of being sponsored to do 40 star jumps every day in February came about and she raised £600 for the hospice.
"And it all went from there. She finishes one charity challenge and immediately wants to move onto another. She is a good swimmer and did a sponsored swim that raised £150 for Bowel Cancer Research.
"Then I saw there was a Pretty Mudder last year and she raised £300 for Breast Cancer Research. Cancer has affected our family quite a lot. My auntie Janet Walker died from it in 2020 and my cousin Kerian Gill was only 31 when he passed in 2023, their having only discovered he had it in the post-mortem.”
April is taking part in another Race for Life Pretty Mudder in May at Manchester’s Heaton Park in aid of Cancer Research but is also turning her attention to dementia, raising money in memory of both great-grandma Margaret and great-uncle Martin King, both of whom who suffered from the condition.
She plans to swim a mile – 64 lengths of a 25m pool – over four weeks to raise money for the Alzheimer’s Society.
Laura said: “For someone her age she’s got amazing drive. When she was doing her star jumps when she was four, it would have been easy to lose interest after a few days, but she didn’t. We just support her. If she decides one time not to do it, that’s fine. She’s done brilliantly already, but she wants to keep going.”
April is a big Blue Peter fan and saw that there was a chance to apply for one of the BBC show’s kindness badges, so her parents helped her fill in the form explaining what she does to raise money and thought no more about it.
That was until a badge was sprung on a delighted April at school assembly.
Laura said: “She wears it on her pyjamas and keeps it at her bedside. She’s very proud of it.”