THE heroic efforts of 99-year-old Captain Tom Moore have inspired a big-hearted six-year-old girl to raise hundreds of pounds for the NHS by running two miles round her garden.

Captain Tom has become a national treasure after raising more than £12m for NHS Charities Together by completing 100 laps of his garden in Bedfordshire.

And when Mollie Workman Jones, of Darlington, saw him on television, she jumped up and told her mother Katherine: “Mummy, I could do that!”

Within minutes, Mollie was running round her front and back gardens in Whitebridge Drive, cheered on by the neighbours, and chased by two-year-old brother Jude, shouting: “Come on, Mollie!”

She initially set out to complete a mile but ended up running two miles in a time of 51 minutes and 40 seconds. Running in a T-shirt emblazoned with rainbows, she has so far raised more than £700 for NHS Charities Together.

Mollie, a pupil at Whinfield Primary School, said: “I saw the man on the television, and I thought he was just amazing. He made me want to do something to help, and I’m proud of what I’ve done for the NHS.

“I felt a bit tired after a while, and had to have a few drinks, but I kept going by thinking about the man. I can’t believe how many people have sent money.”

Katherine and Mollie’s dad, Simon, were due to get married on May 9, and Mollie’s heart-warming efforts have helped soften the blow of the wedding having to be cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“It was really disappointing but what Mollie has done, and the generous response from people, is definitely helping to make up for it – we are just overwhelmed and so proud of her,” said Katherine.

“She got to the one-mile mark and we thought she’d stop there, but she gave herself a little pep talk and set off again. She was amazing.”

Katherine’s niece, Iona, is a nurse in Scotland, so Mollie has been made aware of the importance of the work being carried out by frontline NHS staff.

Both her parents are amateur runners – with Katherine a member of a local group called “These Girls Can Run” – and Mollie used her dad’s GPS watch to calculate how far she was running and record her time.

• To help Mollie raise even more money go to www. https://www.facebook.com/katherine.workman.9