Pupils, staff and parents at Rodmarton Primary School have helped Gloucestershire firefighters raise vital funds for the Cheltenham and Gloucester Oncology Unit.

The school held a cake sale and raised £125 in support of the firefighters who have just completed their 160-mile hospital bed push around all 21 fire stations in the county including Cirencester, Tetbury and Stroud.

Cake sale organiser Rachel Brennen, whose daughter Charlie is a pupil at Rodmarton School, said: “Both my brother and my cousin are firefighters and, when I heard they were doing this amazing bed push around the county to raise money for the cancer unit, I just really wanted to do something to help them.

“My mum had cancer nine years ago - she was treated at the unit in Cheltenham and I’m certain that the care she got there saved her life.”

Rob Bunting, station manager for the Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service who came up with the bed push idea, came to the sale just a day after completing all six days of the bed push with more than 300 colleagues.

He said: “We are so grateful to Rodmarton Primary School for supporting us in this way and helping us raise even more money for this very worthy cause. "Everyone I know has lost loved ones to cancer or been affected in some way by this terrible disease. "So far we’ve raised almost £20,000 and every little helps.

“We started in Lydney on the Friday morning and finished at the Gloucestershire Oncology Unit at Cheltenham General Hospital on the Wednesday evening having visited every single fire station in the county.

"I’m exhausted and my feet are killing me but I’m so glad to be here to speak to the pupils and parents and let them know how much we appreciate their support.”

Rob was actually the man who came up with the idea of the bed pull.

He added: "I wanted to think of something that would raise a significant amount of money to help.

"I had the crazy idea of pushing a hospital bed around the county, and emailed everyone in the organisation to see if anyone would be interested in taking part.

"I got so many replies - 300 - right back from people saying they wanted to be involved, that it crashed my inbox.

"But that's exactly what I'd expect for Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service, it's such a lovely organisation.

Pupils at the school, and the school’s Little Squirrels pre-school group, learnt about the important work of the fire brigade and painted “fire” pictures.

To make a donation to help the Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service reach their £30,000 target just text GFRS18 with the amount you want to donate to 70070.

You can also donate to their justgiving page at bit.ly/2IzpVu8