FOUR young eco-warriors have managed to beat their fundraising target by a month. The group of Year 10 pupils from Hitchin Girls School announced earlier this year that they hoped to raise £1,000 by the end of April to support a range of environmental pr

FOUR young eco-warriors have managed to beat their fundraising target by a month.

The group of Year 10 pupils from Hitchin Girls' School announced earlier this year that they hoped to raise £1,000 by the end of April to support a range of environmental projects.

But thanks to a busy period of fundraising, Ellen Ward, Sophie Stokes, Hazel Impey and Tasmin Hunt have managed to collect an amazing £1,009 a month ahead of schedule.

The girls raised the funds through their environmental group PLANTED - Please Let's Act Now To End Destruction.

A non-uniform day at their school raised £600 and a cake stall £85, with the rest coming in from donations, including from Stonegate Estate Agents in Hitchin.

Ellen said they were "very pleased" with the amount of money they had raised.

She added: "Every time we counted up how much we had we got more and more surprised."

The group will use some of the money to buy trees for people in the developing world through Oxfam.

They will also put it towards sponsoring rainforests in South America, having already sponsored three acres in Ecuador and Colombia.

Some of the money will also be spent on buying some young plants which, once they are more established, they will sell on to encourage people to go green in their own garden.

For more information on PLANTED and its work, visit www.notreesnoyou.co.uk