A TEN-YEAR-OLD baker has braved late nights, hot ovens and a steady stream of orders to raise hundreds of pounds to help cancer sufferers.

Kathleen Ann Sherlock-Britton, from Darlington, has devoted her summer holidays to raising funds for the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation in memory of her late aunty, who died from pancreatic cancer in January.

The youngster, whose grandfather was skilled baker Seymour Crang, has already raised more than £320 by offering her delicious wares to family, friends and Facebook fans.

Deluged with orders, Kathleen Ann has sometimes stayed up until past 2am to craft her tasty creations and hasn’t snatched as much as a single slice for herself.

The Heathfield Primary School pupil said that her aunty, Maralynn Crang, would be amazed to see how well her charitable efforts are going.

She said: “I was very sad when my aunty died and I wanted to do this in her memory.

“I have raised loads of money and have had loads and loads of comments saying how nice my cakes are – people aren’t just buying one, they’re buying two at a time, it has been amazing.

“I will give the money to the Bobby Robson Foundation because that’s where my aunty was treated and they helped her, so I wanted to help them.

“It has been fun but not so much at 2am when I’m still up making them because I’ve had loads of orders, once I got 15 in a day.

“I love creating different flavours and doing designs and watching how happy people are when they enjoy them.”

Kathleen Ann’s mother, Victoria Sherlock-Britton, said she was incredibly proud of her daughter’s efforts and praised her for balancing the baking with caring for her grandmother, who has a broken hip.

She said Kathleen Ann had taken on the task almost single-handedly, only needing assistance to take cakes out of the oven and to dress the odd one for a special occasion.

Ms Britton said: “I am so proud of everything that she’s been doing – she started by selling loom bands then decided because she was home all day looking after her nana, to bake.

“The Bobby Robson foundation is fantastic, it gives you hope to know there are people out there trying to fight cancer.

“I was extremely proud when Kathleen Ann came out and said she wanted to raise money for charity, you don’t expect a ten-year-old to come out with something like that, she’s very thoughtful.”

The pair thanked all of those who ordered cakes for supporting them to raise funds.